Additional Steps taken So Far
Discuss about the Nursing Leadership.
The strategy has incorporated a new management style characterized by a different communication structure. Notably, to facilitate easy and fluent communication between the nursing leader and the followers, it was critical that the management style incorporates a communication system that allowed all the affiliated individuals to report directly to the nursing leader (Vlasich, 2017; Huber, 2004). In this process, accessibility of the nursing leader was enhanced, individual participation in this program was improved and feedback was also encouraged.
It was also critical for the plan to develop an environment that was centered on quality care delivery. Hence, the program aimed to ensure that all nurses felt that they were providing quality service to the community in which they were engaged in. In doing so, the nurse leader had to ensure that the associated nurses had the right balance between providing support to the community and according the necessitated care (Nursing Times, 2011). Consequently, this initiative improved patient safety and also increased accessibility of nurses to the patients or rather the community.
It was worthwhile to identify and implement a structured leadership program that focused on the development of leadership skills for nurses. Notably, this initiative was aimed at tailoring new leaders and ensuring that the experiences of these nurses are put to good use. Similarly, this program was aimed at providing new insights for the leaders that were identified for their respective groups. Ultimately, it was anticipated that the program will be efficient in enhancing the leadership skills of the identified nursing leaders (Elliot, 2016). Additional, through this program, nursing leadership presence would ideally be increased especially on the weekends thereby seeking and improving the involvement of all the individuals associated with the plan (Tomey, 2009). Alternatively, an increase in the staff participation will also enhance the involvement of staff in every decision that affects their practice.
An education program was also implemented so as to introduce the leaders involved to financial knowledge. To keep the program within the budget limits, it was critical that all the team leaders be educated on budget reports as well as available tools that can measure productivity (Huber, 2004). This incentive was critical for keeping the program afloat as well as ensuring that the set objectives are met.
Obstacles addressed/resolved
Given the relatively inexperienced groups of individuals that the nurse leader had to work with, issues concerning individual cultural beliefs and ideologies were prevalent as the program progressed. In this light, health care equity and matters to do with social justice proved to provide constant barriers to the progression of the plan. Nonetheless, the nursing leader resorted to code of ethics as well as available reputable code of conduct to direct these individuals on what was expected of them during the program. Eventually, it became apparent that by being educated on the code of ethics, every associated individual became well aware of the ethical implications that could arise regardless of their individualistic cultural beliefs.
Actions Taken to Skills/ Resources
The plan was also faced with a problem of individual accountability. This problem mainly occurred from negligence exhibited by some of the group members. However, the education and development program that was set in motion proved to be pivotal in clarifying accountability and subsequently assisted the affected individuals in becoming aware of aspects involving transparency, professionalism and team work (Kitson, 2001). In addition, some of the members raised their concerns regarding not being recognized for the efforts that they have put in the course. As such, this problem encouraged disunity among some of the members, and mistrust also escalated between the followers and the nursing leader.
Obstacles not resolved
A recent obstacle has emerged concerning the clarification of roles and boundaries. This problem occurred from the fact that the group was further divided into teams with respective nursing leaders. Consequently, some of the individual team members experienced difficulty in reporting since they did not clearly understand the nurse leader that they should report to. Also, given that the team comprises of individuals from different sets of cultural backgrounds, issues related to discrimination arising from cultural diversity emanated from some of the group members. In this case, it was critical for the nursing leader to develop a communication scheme that reminded all the members of the team of the need to respect each other’s’ diversity. Moreover, a non-discrimination policy was established to protect the minority groups within the team and as such, protect those who felt that they were inferior.
Colleagues Enlisted to the Cause
A number of key colleagues and consultants were further included in the program among them including; nursed leaders, liaison nurses, nursing researchers and clinical nurse specialists. To achieve the set objectives, it became vital to group all the affiliated individuals into groups. In each of these groups, a nurse leader was chosen to lead their respective groups. Furthermore, these nurse leaders had to work with liaison nurses from various medical institutions such as hospitals in a bid to device the best possible care that could be accorded to the patients (Benedict, 2018). Also, this initiative would ensure that there us quality improvement in such a way that patient outcomes would be improved and the quality of care would also be increased within the locale of the community.
Additional Changes to the Strategy
One leadership strategy that has recently been incorporated in the plan comprises a training program for all individuals involved in the program. It is also worthy to note that this training program was based on evidence-based guidelines and was specifically selected because of the need to better the services accorded to the community. Since, the group had already been subdivided into teams, a strategy involving multi-disciplinary teams of experts were selected from the available nursing staff to conduct the training for the different teams (Beebe et al, 2013; Williams & Bender, 2015). In this case, the multi-disciplinary teams were further subdivided in accordance with specialization and as such, they primarily comprised of groups covering primary care, women’s health and social work (Tomey, 2009). Therefore, through training, it became evident that all the individuals associated with the program were well acquainted with the diverse medical areas in which they were situated or rather allocated.
Obstacles Identified
The leadership initiative also noted the importance of developing a team policy which would specifically empower the community that the teams serve. Empowerment in this sense was to be channeled towards individual patients and their families or relatives. Moreover, empowerment would ideally imply that the initiative was keeping abreast or rather observing patient autonomy, promoting self-care and enhancing better patient outcomes. As such, a new strategy comprising of a team policy concerning discrimination, confidence and trust was devised. Precisely, the policy prohibited every group member against any sort of discrimination (Rowe & Chye, 2015). It also festered and fostered activities that would increase trust and confidence in the team from the community. Similarly, a team based approach was developed in order to utilize the strengths of each individual within the team. Specifically, the approach aimed at delegating duties to subordinates in accordance with their expertise. Alternatively, tasks were allocated to team members on the basis of their strengths. Hence, the nurse leader sought to identify individual team member’s strengths and weaknesses before allocating the tasks (Nursing Times, 2011). In addition, it is also worthy to note that the implemented policy was also aimed at preserving gender rights and therefore ensuring that no bias was prevalent against any set of gender.
References
Beebe, N., Forsythe, T.,Funfair, T., Mayfield, M., Thomas, W., Smith, K., & Scott, P. (2013). Using Evidence-Based Leadership Initiatives to Create a Healthy Nursing Work Environment. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 32(4), 166-173. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23759905
Benedict, C. (2018). The Best Strategies for Nursing Leaders. Retrieved from https://online.ben.edu/programs/msn/resources/the-best-strategies-for-nursing-leaders
Elliot, N. (2016). Building Leadership Capacity in Advanced Nurse Practitioners: The Role of Organizational Management. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(1), 77-81. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jonm.12444
Huber, D. L. (2004). Nursing Leadership: New Initiatives in Case Management. Nursing Outlook, 52(3), 159-160. Retrieved from https://www.nursingoutlook.org/article/S0029-6554(04)00052-1/abstract
Kitson, A. (2001). Nursing Leadership: Bringing Caring Back to the Future. BMJ Quality and Safety, 10(2). Retrieved from https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/10/suppl_2/ii79
Nursing Times. (2011). Leadership Skills for Nurses. Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes.net/Journals/2011/08/24/j/n/i/Leadership-Skills-for-Nurses.pdf
Rowe, D., & Chye, Y. (2015). Leadership Initiatives in Promoting Patient-Centered Transgender Care. Retrieved from https://www.nursinglibrary.org/vhl/bitstream/10755/616354/1/3_Rowe_D_p79898_1.pdf
Tomey A.M. (2009) Nursing leadership and management effects work environments. Journal of Nursing Management 17, 15-25. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2008.00963.x
Vlasich, C. (2017). The Quest for Excellent Leadership. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(5), 327-328. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jonm.12497
Williams, M., & Bender, M. (2015). Growing and Sustaining the Clinical Nurse Leader Imitative: Shifting the Focus from Pioneering Innovation to Evidence-Driven Integration into Healthcare Delivery. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(11), 540-543. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/jonajournal/Abstract/2015/11000/Growing_and_Sustaining_the_Clinical_Nurse_Leader.6.aspx