NURSING 7011 Leadership And Management In Nursing
Question
Using the Gibb’s Model of Reflection students will reflect on their experiences on a previous placement with leadership or mentorship from a Registered Nurse and how they will integrate this in to their future nursing practice.
Answer
Reflection
Description:
During my placement in the rehabilitation healthcare unit, I worked under a senior registered nurse along with other student nurses. The senior registered nurse was our clinical preceptor and she was supposed to guide us in every aspect of rehabilitation interventions. The student nurses were working as a team under her guidance. However, the senior nurse did not communicate effectively with us and it became very difficult for us to understand her perspectives. She was very stern in her voice and did not promote effective communication. She told that no one should talk unless required while caring for the patient. We were not allowed to talk and it acted as a stress on us. Many of the members went to the senior nurse with innovative suggestions by which the patients could be treated in a better manner. She did not want to listen to them and cut them midway stating that they should only perform as advised and no suggestions were welcomed. This made them de-motivated making them feel that their suggestions were not wanted by the organization. One of the nurses was facing issues while she was handling the electronic health records and so she asked for help from the senior nurse. She shouted on her that this should have been taught by the university and that she would not waste time on this matter. She advised her to follow the manual guidelines. I also went to her to tell her that I was being burned out easily and cannot provide productivity on the floor. She told me to handle my issues by myself and not to irritate her. Soon the higher authority raised a complaint against her as many of the student nurses were withdrawing themselves from the placement, as they were not getting support.
Feelings:
I was quite upset from all the incidents that took place with me as well as with my fellow members of the team. We were not treated well by the senior nurse and we felt disrespected. I felt that the organization did not care for her and this affected my enthusiasm to work for the organization. I was disappointed about the way I was mistreated by the senior nurse and I did not feel like working under her leadership. My moral was affected and therefore, it hampered my productivity as well. I realized that in this way, I can never learn new things in the healthcare unit and therefore, I did not feel like going to work anymore.
Evaluation:
The poor leadership exhibited by the senior nursing professional had affected the morale of the student nurses. The nursing students felt discouraged and they were not feeling to work under her guidance. The most negative outcome was that the productivity was affected on the floor and the care that they were providing to the patient was not appropriate. The nurses no more wanted to consult with the senior nurse and therefore the care that they were providing to the patient had high chances of errors and negative outcomes. Therefore, poor leadership of the senior nurse not only affected the morale of the student nurses but also impacted the care of the patients as well. The only positive part was that it helped the student nurses to understand the aspects that a nurse leader should never exhibit. These poor experiences of the students made them understand the ways that leaders should never treat the subordinates. These would make them more competent leader in the future, making them not to exhibit such traits in their leadership phase in the future (Barr and Dowding 2015).
Analysis:
Effective leadership is one of the most important aspects that help in maintaining smooth workflow in the organization. It ensures that every employee is able to align with the organizational mission and vision. Close analysis of the leadership trait of the senior nurse showed that she followed the autocratic leadership style. Researchers are of the opinion that autocratic leadership styles show specific traits that affect the morale of the employees (Cope and Murray 2017). Little or no input from the group members is expected and the leaders are seen to make almost all decisions. The group leaders are seen to dictate all the work methods as well as the processes. The group members are not trusted with decisions and important tasks and work tends to be highly structured and very rigid. Creativity and out of the box thinking styles are discouraged and rules are important (van Rossum et al. 2016). The senior nurse was seen to follow an autocratic leadership style. Studies have shown that this form of leadership affects the morale of the nurses and prevent subordinate from being dedicated to the organization. They feel increased work burden that tend to make them burned out. Turnover rate are higher and employees become discouraged to put forward their valuable opinion. The nurse students had gone through similar negative outcomes. The senior nurse should have adopted transformational leadership style. The senior nurses should have motivated the employees to work beyond their potential. This factor would have increased productivity on the floor. The leaders also need to change the ineffective feedback exchange sessions where they need to respect the suggestion for the subordinates (Govender et al. 2018). This makes the employees feel that their feedbacks are respected and they are accepted as a part of the organization. This aspect has positive outcomes on their morale. Moreover, this form of leadership also practices individualized consideration. The senior nurse should have listened to my concern and should have provided me solutions based on her own experiences.
Conclusion:
From reflecting on this incident, it could be seen that the senior nurse had portrayed autocratic leadership style. One-way communication without feedbacks results to misunderstanding in communication breakdown (Friedman 2016). The traits shown by the senior nurse also failed to develop the commitment and motivation o the student nurse and these aspects resulted in poor productivity on the floor. Employee morale was also affected and nurses felt burned out. Therefore, it becomes important for professionals to adopt transformational leadership style. Idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration skills need to be adopted by leaders. These would help in maintaining smooth workflow and meeting of organizational goals by the subordinates (Hewitt et al. 2018).
Action plan:
As a nursing healthcare professional, I also have to step into the role of a nurse leader or a nurse manager in the future. Therefore, I need to develop leadership skills that would help me in guiding my team members effectively towards the organizational mission.
- Therefore, I will join workshop classes on developing effective communication skills. These classes will be conducted on the weekends and therefore, I would not have to miss university classes. The mentors in the workshop would guide me in developing the skills so that I can communicate effectively with my subordinates in the future. effective communication skills would help in proper feedback exchange sessions and employees would feel respected (Sfantou et al. 2017).
- Moreover, empathy and compassion while managing the teams are important as they help in connecting with the subordinates and establishing bonds (Fischer et al. 2016). I need to develop high level of emotional intelligence. In order to do that, I can take interviews of stalwart healthcare professionals in the domain. This would help me to know about their experiences and the ways they have handled each of the situations effectively. All these would help me to learn proper leadership traits that would make me a transformational leader.
- Moreover, I would also go through evidence-based articles by accessing the digital library through my personal computer or through my Smartphone. Recommendations of being better leaders in healthcare are discussed by researchers and these would help me to gain new insights. All these factors would help me to modify my traits and become a successful leader in the future.
References:
Barr, J. and Dowding, L., 2015. Leadership in health care. Sage.
Cope, V. and Murray, M., 2017. Leadership styles in nursing. Nursing Standard (2014+), 31(43), p.61.
Fischer, S.A., 2016. Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653.
Friedman, H.H., 2016. Is Your Organization Run by the Right Kind of Leader? An Overview of the Different Leadership Styles.
Govender, S., Proches, C.N.G. and Kader, A., 2018. Examining leadership as a strategy to enhance health care service delivery in regional hospitals in South Africa. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 11, p.157.
Hewitt, L., Priddis, H. and Dahlen, H.G., 2018. What attributes do Australian midwifery leaders identify as essential to effectively manage a Midwifery Group Practice?. Women and Birth.
Sfantou, D.F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A.E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M. and Patelarou, E., 2017, October. Importance of Leadership Style towards Quality of Care Measures in Healthcare Settings: A Systematic Review. In Healthcare (Vol. 5, No. 4, p. 73). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.
van Rossum, L., Aij, K.H., Simons, F.E., van der Eng, N. and ten Have, W.D., 2016. Lean healthcare from a change management perspective: The role of leadership and workforce flexibility in an operating theatre. Journal of health organization and management, 30(3), pp.475-493.
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