Nursing Styles of Leadership Paper Example

Introduction

Different styles of leadership would have been used by the manager to make decisions in this case. The autocratic leadership would have prompted the manager to make a decision based on his understanding without demanding input from other employees. The Democratic leadership would have seen the nurse manager involving other nurses to come up with the right decision (Beauvais, 2018). The Laissez Faire Leadership would have seen the manager leaving decision making to junior nurses while the bureaucratic leadership would have seen the manager following the hospital policies and leave the situation in its present state.

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The manager made a mistake in handling this issue by first failing to get to the root of the matter to the point when the meeting became confrontational. The manager allowed employees to provide solutions without providing any input on solving the issue. The manager only criticized the decision made by terming it unworkable without seeking additional input on the matter (Beauvais, 2018). The manager lacked problem-solving skills. The failure to listen to the nurses and provide direction showed the lack of leadership from a person who was expected to show leadership under these circumstances.

The ethical issue that arises, in this case, is understaffing in a medical institution. It is unethical to have a health facility that handles emergency services to have a few staff who cannot handle all the workload (Makaroff et al., 2014). The issue should have been resolved to ensure that the facility is adequately staffed to handled such cases. There was also a failure in the part of management in failing to show leadership in solving the problem. The nurse manager acted unethically by failing to prevent the meeting from getting confrontational.

Leadership Reflection

There are several activities that I have been involved in the last few days. During my shift in the morning, I was moved to patient admission where I was tasked with welcoming and conducting initial tests to the patients. Interacting with patients from diverse backgrounds offered challenges at the same time learning opportunity on how to handle diversity in the nursing environment. During these activities, I showed leadership and had the goal of ensuring that patients would see the physician within the shortest time possible. I prepared the patients adequately and helped to schedule appointments within the shortest time. I used the democratic leadership by seeking the views of the patient and the physician before making a decision (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015). The style worked as I was able to request patients to allow those with critical conditions first to see the physician. I was skilled for this tasked as I had been involved on numerous occasions. I was confident enough since I was interacting with returning patients. My close relationships with the physicians boosted confidence.

My skills in the nursing profession and handling of patients have improved ever since I enrolled in the course. I now have a better understanding of the nursing rules and procedures and how to align them to the procedures of health facilities. I can now take up demanding roles and balance how I offer care services to different patients (Beauvais, 2018). I believe that enrolling for a master's degree in nursing will expose me to nursing management. It will further prepare me to handle challenging nursing tasks in the future. The program will enhance my leadership skills which could help transform the nursing profession.

Ethics

There are ethical issues that are likely to arise in taking up the healthcare leadership role. As a nurse, I am expected to have a better understanding of nursing procedures of my junior staff. As a result, it will be difficult to seek the help of other nurses in addressing challenging health issues. Besides, being open-minded on issues and rendering that listening hears to patients can be challenging in a field where I will be dealing with patients from different backgrounds. I will be better placed to address these issues by taking up a course on diversity in nursing to acquire the right skills that could be a benefit in handling patients from diverse backgrounds (Makaroff et al., 2014). When it comes to making decisions, I will choose the democratic leadership style that will allow me to consult widely and even seek the opinion of junior staff before making any decision.

What I have Learned

The activity has provided learning lessons on how to handle emergencies in a medical environment. The level of decision making required accompanied by leadership demands shows that nurses must possess vital leadership skills that would allow them to make decisions faster to be able to save lives. I have also learned the need to establish good relationships with patients and physicians. The better relationship improves communication and also eases the pressure of preparing patients to see physicians. It is through these improved communications that one can develop the confidence to deal with diverse patients (Beauvais, 2018). The decision to further nursing skills through education can help improve leadership skills and prepare the nurse for future leadership. The information can be used to handle other scenarios that are likely to occur in the nursing field. When one is transferred to work in an unfamiliar setting, it is important to develop a better relationship that will improve learning. Besides, the same information offers one with knowledge on problem-solving and decision making that is critical when carrying out a nursing assignment.

There are a few things that I would wish to do differently. I want to learn how to be more friendly to the patient. The nursing environment is stressful, and nurses can often overreact to certain situations while under stress. I wish I knew how to handle stress in the nursing environment and remain productive at all times. The information would have been crucial in improving my nursing skills (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015). I wish I knew that nursing is a challenging profession which demands dedication and passion for one to succeed. Besides, the level of compassion and empathy that nurses should show is also critical. These issues would have helped me to make better decisions while choosing to be a nurse.

Strengths and Limitations

The activity exposed me to understand my strengths in undertaking nursing activities. I have earned that I am an easy person and a good communicator. The ability to interact with different clients and create a good rapport that persuaded them to communicate without any fear made my experience exceptional. I had excellent listening skills which allowed me to identify patients depending on their needs and give them a priority when seeking health services (Beauvais, 2018). The other strength is on the democratic leadership style. It was through this style that I achieved a lot and promoted better caring services within the profession. As a nurse, I learned to involve all the stakeholders in decision making to ensure that all people got the understanding of the decisions made on treatment.

The experience had its limitations which provided a chance to learn on how to address them in the future. The problem of handling work-related stress affected my level of productivity. In situations when I was faced with stress, it became difficult to handle other activities the next day. Stress was a major problem as one was required to be compassionate and show empathy which affected the quality of services offered (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2015). I was also nervous when I transferred to another station. I had a fear of failure or not being able to meet the quality standards of the department.

The other leadership style that I would consider to use is bureaucratic leadership. The leadership style encourages staff to follow the laid down policies and procedures in making decisions. The style is clear, and each employee understands what is required to be done under different circumstances.

Conclusion

Nursing is a field that is demanding and leadership is of necessity. Just like other professions, nursing managers must show leadership to guide employees on how to better patients. The strength of any leadership style is on its ability to delegate duties and responsibilities. Delegation gives employees that sense of entitlement to make decisions for the benefit of the organization. Professionalism is required, and all nurses should be professional in whatever they undertake. Professionalism should be guided by ethical standards established in the nursing profession. Proper leadership thrives when it is established on the ethical ground. Democratic leadership promotes professionalism, observes ethics and supports delegation of duties.

References

Beauvais, A. M. (Ed.). (2018). Leadership and Management Competence in Nursing Practice: Competencies, Skills, Decision-Making. Springer Publishing Company.

Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2015). Leadership in nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Makaroff, K. S., Storch, J., Pauly, B., & Newton, L. (2014). Searching for ethical leadership in nursing. Nursing Ethics, 21(6), 642-658.