Combining Nurse Leader With Advocacy

The current changing dimensions in the world of health care have provided new challenges for medical practitioners, particularly nurses (Cherry, and Jacob, 2011). For nurses to be well-positioned in health care, they need to be well acquainted with the necessary management skills (Blizzard, Khoury, and McMurray, 2010). This will make them well placed in providing sound judgments. Once this is achieved, nurse managers can be able to create an environment that will attract and retain competent nurses and this will have a positive impact on the quality of health care. For nurses to advance in managerial skills, there are hurdles to pass.

To begin with, a nurse manager has to exhibit good personal goals and professional accountability (Blizzard, Khoury, and McMurray, 2010). To achieve this, nurses are to advance their education to the highest level possible which is a necessary step to climbing up the ladder. On my side, I have undergone continuous education and achieved a degree in BSN. Moreover, am still working as a nurse which helps me learn and practice morals that enhance values supporting nursing standards and scopes of practice. Furthermore, I have registered with professional healthcare bodies like the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). These bodies facilitate networking and professional development. Relative to a personal goal, I look upon staff motivation and encouragement. Motivation and encouragement help to uplift the work spirit and standard hence enhancing its quality. Achieving this goal requires the proper formulation of better working conditions and reward systems. By being a nurse manager, one will advocate for enhanced standards of working, which will include competence in the working environment deemed to offer quality health care services.

The next component in enhancing leadership, in nursing, is career planning. This involves encouraging as well as coaching others at the same time evaluating one’s progress (Utley, 2011). In the process of evaluation of my plans, I have acquired a bachelor’s degree in nursing which acts as a starting point since I do not intend to stop until I get my doctorate. By getting to this level, I will have achieved my goals fully, and since not many people have such academic levels I will have placed myself in a better position to become a reliable and resourceful person in the health sector. Having practiced as a nurse, I will be well-positioned in terms of flexibility in accepting and adapting to new technologies for the enhancement of healthcare facilities.

The other hurdle is a personal journey of discipline. This pertains to the changes taking place and the journey through those changes (Utley, 2011). Additionally, it involves assessing yourself, your experiences and feedback, and your long-term learning needs. My current job requirements have made me advance in education to meet the rising changes. As mentioned above, I hold a BSN degree and hope to enroll in a master’s followed by a doctorate the soonest possible. Since most people have not reached, such academic levels it will be a significant boost to eliminate more competition in my career position. This can occur due to adequate planning and doing things according to the set timelines. Furthermore, the IOM Future of Nursing recommends and creates a way of allowing nurses to improve on their knowledge. This has helped me, and I want to fit well into it by the time I will be pursuing a doctorate.

My little experience in leadership has taught me new dimensions of change in the workplace. As a nurse leader, you need to be able to communicate and relate well with other staff and patients at large. One must have an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare environment so that it can be easy to reason and make financially sound clinical decisions. Additionally, one has to demonstrate a high sense of professionalism through academic credentials. Also, the person should have good business skills and principles to run the health care facility in a way that it can sustain itself.

Finally, a personal reflection of leadership behaviors. This is the key aspect of leadership in all health care organizations (American Organization of Nurse Executives. 2006). As a nurse, I have expressed a high degree of integrity in my work to generate a mutual relationship with other concerned parties. Also, I have learned to work comfortably amid the ambiguous environment and proved wholesome by being able to appreciate diversity in all forms by overcoming discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and numerous differences of various kinds.

Moreover, I have managed to hold multiple perspectives without judgments hence creating a space where many perspectives are encouraged before arriving at the decisions. This has enhanced my individuals’ ability to search for and find the potential in themselves and others. In a turn. The has assisted me to place other nurse staff in the categories they fit best and also to give appraisals in terms of performance evaluation. Another key I have not left behind is the need to adventure towards enhancing a state of learning for individuals in the organization and myself. This is meant to enhance continued improvement in acquiring new skills and techniques. Furthermore, I have embraced nurturing of the intellectual and emotional self at all times because this has a far-reaching effect. This reduces or eliminates shyness from oneself and others in the organization promoting good interaction.

Besides the above strengths, a few weaknesses limit me. One and the most notable is the lack of enough funds to cater for further education. This can slow the pace at which a person wants to advance in education. Also, since investing in education does not have quick returns, it can also make some people opt not to invest in it. It should also be noted that time cannot be rushed. Hence, the process of acquiring knowledge is slow because time is a factor that cannot be controlled (Cherry, and Jacob, 2011).

With the turbulent, ever-changing world, healthcare continues to face new challenges. Therefore, healthcare staff needs to repackage themselves in a way that they will fit in to shape the future of healthcare through innovative leadership in nursing. Leadership is a key aspect that is required in the nursing field. This involves professional accountability, career planning, personal discipline, and behavior. In addition, as a nurse leader, it is my responsibility to ensure the provision of compassionate care to all.

References

American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2006). “Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership.” Web.

Blizzard, R., Khoury, C., and McMurray, C., (2010). Nursing Leadership from Bedside to Boardroom: Opinion Leaders’ Perceptions. Web.

Cherry, B., Jacob, S. R. (2011). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management (5th Ed.). St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier.

Utley, R. A. (2011). Theory and research for academic nurse educators: Application to practice. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

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