Leadership in Nurshing

The core function of nursing is to protect life and provide care for the ill in the society.

This care is needed from birth, infancy, teenage hood, adulthood, old age until death. However,

it does not happen naturally to all people. This is because, nursing cuts across all gender, age,

culture and religion. The difference in behavior and thinking across different cultures, age and

gender, means substantial knowledge from the humanities, natural and behavioral sciences is

required in order to deliver a holistic service to the clients. This will empower the nurses to

provide wholesome care to enable the patients to improve, maintain, or recover health, cope with

healthy problems, and achieve the possible quality of life until death, according to the Royal

college of Nursing (Clark et al., 2003, p. 3). Psychology, which I had learnt earlier in my course,

has enabled me to deal with clients from diverse backgrounds. This is due to the behavioral

science nature of the theories it presented. This has prepared me to successfully handle patients

from diverse demographic settings.

Exploration and Analysis

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In order to advance the nursing profession, it is important to synthesize and apply

knowledge from other fields of study such as; leadership, Humanities, Nursing, Sciences,

Economics, Statistics, Healthy sciences, Environmental studies, Psychology, Information

technology among other disciplines that are crucial to the advancement of the nursing profession.

This synthesized knowledge enables us to derive the nursing terminal objectives that are very

important to the nursing profession across the globe.

These terminal objectives include; application of leadership concepts in the nursing

profession, incorporation of evidence-based findings to come up with a plan strategy that

can address health problems in the society, demonstration of clinical judgment in the nursing

profession, utilization of emerging information systems by embracing Information Technology

to design and implement care initiatives, integration of professional standards and Nursing

law into the nursing profession, analyze healthy policies by taking into account the space of

the clients, stakeholders and nursing and deal effectively with the cultural divide posed in the

nursing field. The incorporation of these terminal objectives can to a great deal advance nursing

as a profession. To better understand these terminal objectives, each objective is elaborated on its

own as below demonstrated:

1. Application of leadership concepts in the nursing profession

As earlier noted, leadership is crucial in nursing just like in any other profession. Well

empowered nurses with a vision and mission, can courageously and inspiringly influence

others to achieve a noble task that is far bigger than any one individual. My emulated servant

leadership has inspired other members of the staff to post an envious remarkable performance

that is so much inspiring to the entire nursing profession. Frontline nurse leaders are responsible

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for decision-making not only related to patient care, but also for decisions that will affect the

staff and daily operations (Wicker, 2008, p. 15). According to the contingency model, a nurse

manager should modify situations based on group relations, personal power, and task structure

to improve staff productivity (Cherie & Gebrekidan, 2005). The nurse leader should also

demonstrate to know the similarities between leadership and management, and the difference

between them by putting them into practice. All types of leaders accomplish their works through

people, the core reason as to why the nurse leaders should also be conversant with human

relations, conceptual and technical skills.

2. Incorporation of evidence-based findings and demonstration of clinical judgment to

come up with a plan strategy that can address health problems in the society

Statistical knowledge can be integrated into the nursing practice, through evidence based practice

and research. A concise design is then developed in the process that helps in implementing

nursing practice projects. Wicker (2008) found out that by using descriptive statistics; mean

scores can be used to identify differences on how nurses perceive their individual competencies

and behaviors after having completed leadership education (p. 15). Cherie and Gebrekidan

(2005) also noted that during the Crimean war, Nightingale had reported statistics on the

mortality of British soldiers in comparison to civilians before and after some of her innovative

nursing practices (p. 260). Evidence-based nursing leadership utilizes a variety of contemporary

leadership and managerial theories as its conceptual foundation (Macphee & Bouthillette, 2008,

p. 74). Nurses need to continuously update their knowledge and act from an evidence-based

approach rather than practice wisdom (Doody & Doody, 2011).

Evidence-based approaches can be used to improve the efficiency, safety, and cost of care

delivery to counter the challenges and take advantage of opportunities presented to the hospital’s

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chief executive officers (Hendrich & Chow, 2008, p.3). Evidence-based approaches produce

a well informed, highly motivated professional and empowered nurse who is eager to deliver

patient care with greater effectiveness (Frankel, 2010). By incorporating statistical evidence-
based approaches into the nursing practice, a strategic plan can be arrived at that can address

health problems both in the rural and urban areas.

3. Embracing emerging information systems by utilizing Information Technology to

design and implement care initiatives.

In the last two decades of the, which coincides with the end of the 20th century and the start

of the 21st century, there has been tremendous advances in innovation and technology, especially

in the Information Technology (IT) sector. Many professions, most of them non-IT-oriented,

have embraced the information systems that come with IT innovations with remarkable results

being posted. There are majorly three types of information systems; transaction processing

systems (TPS), management information systems (MIS) and Expert or Decision-making

Information systems (DMIS). They can be used to capture, manipulate, store, display and make

decisions based on the data obtained from the information systems. This enables the nurse to

accurately deal with data of any size and variety.

Personally, the clinical management system that I employ has significantly reduced the

amount of time that I use to serve my clients due to their efficient retrieval nature. It has also

helped me to order and organize the files of my clients in an efficient manner. Complex tasks

once only executed by a highly trained provider can now be completed through robotic and

information systems (Shalala et al., 2011, p.451).

Clinical informational systems and the standardized healthcare language have demonstrated

the government’s modernization agenda that shall finally unify the nursing profession in the

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UK (Clark et al., p.12). This clearly demonstrates the importance and the usefulness of the

information systems in the nursing profession.

4. Integration of Nursing professional standards and law into the nursing profession

Every profession has some professional standard to characterize it. It is more frequently

attached with some legal element in it that makes it formal. These are actually the laws that

govern its operation and the conduct of its members. Healthcare laws identify great challenges

in the primary care, management of chronic conditions, prevention and wellness, and the

prevention of adverse events such as hospital-acquired infections (Shalala et al., 2011).

While applying the nursing professional standards that I acquired in my leaning, I have set

an example that I expect others to emulate and follow. I spend some of my time to ascertain

whether those whom I am working with lives up to these standards that I have set. By setting

clear professional standards, you give a chance to your team to exactly know what to expect of

them in terms of time-keeping, quality of work and safety rules (Cherie & Gebrekidan, 2005).

These standards highlight the importance of collaboration, communication, accountability,

and recognition of the role of nursing (Hedrich & Chow, 2008, p.3). These clearly demonstrate

that the set professional standards provide a legal framework in the nursing profession. These

professional standards and the incorporated law bind all practicing nurses. Those anticipating

joining the profession must also agree to adhere to these before starting to practice.

5. Analyzing healthy policies by taking into account the space of the clients,

stakeholders and nurses.

A policy is a standing plan and an instrument of delegation. It provides clear guidelines

through which the management conveys its thinking towards taking action consistent with

reaching organizational goals. Through it, the management can alert subordinates to their

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obligations (Cherie & Gebrekidan, 2005, p. 55). This is one of the formal ways through which

communication can flow from above to those down in the organizational hierarchy. It is through

these formulated policies that a client enters into engagement of service with the nurses with a

clear expectation of its end results. Cherie & Gebrekidan (2005) continue to argue in their lecture

notes on Nursing Leadership and Management by quoting Sullivan (1992) that unless definite

policies are established, the system may fail and changes in the nursing practice are not likely to

occur (Cherie & Gebrekidan, 2005, p. 266).

Positive change can only occur in the nursing profession by drafting and implementing sound

policies that takes into account the client, stakeholders and the nurses. As many stakeholders as

possible should be involved in the process (Clark et al., 2003, p. 11).

Implications for Nursing Practice

The terminal objectives of nursing discussed above, lays down the framework of what to

expect from the professional nurse. These terminal objectives go hand in hand with the expected

typical leadership in nursing. In order to achieve all these objectives, there must be an inspiring,

strong visionary leader in the ranks of nursing leadership who should be allowed to sit at the

decision-making tables of the committee of the hospital. While there, He/she has a forum to air

the grievances of the nurses and to push for the realization of their demands. This accelerates the

growth of nursing as profession. The nurses are empowered in the process to deliver services of

highest quality through the motivation they get from their inspiring, visionary and courageous

Setting professional standards and laws guiding them, develops a nurse professionally.

He/she is always aware when to act, how and to which extend, in order to preserve, maintain and

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improve the lives of those under their care. He/she develops an awareness of what information

to derive from those under his/ her care, and never to divulge the acquired information to any

unauthorized third party in the process. These ethical practices should be carried on throughout

the entire lifespan of the nurse. In the long run, they help to develop the nurse professionally at

the same time molding his/ her ethical and moral life.

Nursing should synthesize and incorporate knowledge from various fields of study for

it to grow as a profession. It is a proven fact that every established profession has incorporate

knowledge from a diverse range of fields. It is for this very reason that nursing must also

incorporate knowledge from pertinent fields of study. The nurses are brought to light by the wide

array of knowledge before them, and are better prepared to provide the required patient care.

This enables them to make a more informed decision in their profession.

Lessons Learnt from Analysis

It is possible to manage a culturally diverse population through the application of

nursing leadership and mentorship. The inter-disciplinary approach applied shed a lot of light of

what to expect from different peoples across the cultural divide. The various knowledge from

humanities, natural and behavioral sciences provides sufficient knowledge of how people behave

and what to expect from them. This enables nurses to provide quality service to all people

regardless of their background.

Recommendations and Conclusion

It can be recommended that leadership skills developed in the process should be used in

the nursing practice to advance and better the nursing profession. It is also worth to recommend

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that nurses use their synthesized knowledge from various fields of study to produce an amazing

experience between the nurse-patient relationships.

Finally, it can be concluded that the nurse leadership and the nursing critical objectives

are closely inter-linked that inherently qualifies any practicing nurse to be a leader of his/her own

kind to those under him/her.

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The author of this article is Jackson, a professional Internet Consultant working for a company known as Softnet Solutions Ltd well known for web hosting company in Kenya