Nursing Leadership and Personal Skills

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Introduction

Strong leadership is required to establish a healthy working environment at all levels of an organization. Evidence shows that the presence of a nurse leader in an emergency department of a health facility makes the working environment healthy while at the same time increasing staff retention. In line with this, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses has revealed that for optimal performance of staff and improved patient care, nurse leadership needs to be developed. I have realized the importance of nurse leadership. For this reason, I intend to share my experience at my workplace and relate it with various theories, leadership styles, and technology.

Experience with the Supervisor

As quoted by Lachlan Mclean, “You can only lead others when you are willing to go.” My Emergency Room Director at Providence Park in the Emergency Department (ED) is an example of this. She allows us to help and motivate each other to become better through teamwork. She creates a positive working environment where all nurses can improve themselves through creativity and sharing of information. At one time, she asked for my opinion on the ED and on how she could make it better. It was an excellent opportunity to be creative and contribute to the improvement of this department.

Emergency Nurses Association (ENA)

The Emergency Nurses Association was formed to serve emergency nurses in different ways. The main purpose of ENA is to enhance service delivery through continuous training, research, and funding of other projects. The services offered by ENA ensure continuous improvement of service delivery. It also assists in finding solutions to new problems in the field of nursing (Hammond & Zimmermann, 2012). In addition, ENA provides an opportunity for one to contest for a position in management. One crucial role of ENA in the emergency room (ER) is leadership training. Leadership training is essential in the emergency room as it contributes to coordination and teamwork. ENA has gone further to partner with ENA Foundation in order to improve service delivery.

Time Management

According to Magnet’s Model of transformational leadership, time management, and leadership cannot be separated. My area of operation deals with emergencies and patients in critical conditions. As such, time wastage jeopardizes the lives of patients. In sharpening my time management skills, I have resorted to prioritizing and delegating duties. Prioritizing has allowed me to deal with urgent issues while delegation has enabled me to seek the help of my subordinates. Otherwise, as a team leader, possession of such qualities has enabled me to inspire and create a sense of commitment among my team members.

Leadership Skills

The issues of leadership and management have been taken to mean the same thing. However, a manager exerts authority over others. This means that, others are not involved in decision-making unlike in leadership where the views of all stakeholders are taken into consideration. Since leadership calls for the participation of all, it is important that managers possess some leadership skills to enhance teamwork.

Nurse leaders can execute their functions efficiently depending on how powerful they are. There are various sources of power. They include the legislative, professional qualification and personal qualities. The legislative provides rules and regulations meant to guide the activities of nurses. They govern the responsibilities of a nurse and determine the steps to take in various situations (Lauby, 2010). Secondly, possession of professional skills gives nurses the power to act according to their level of qualification. Finally, personal qualities determine the nurses’ ability to lead.

My personal skills have a significant impact on my leadership skills. I am very persistent, determined and communicative. My persistent nature has enabled me to stay focused on achieving my goals. My determination has kept me going even when faced with challenges. Moreover, I am very communicative. This quality has enabled me to develop a good working relationship with my workmates. However, I don’t like being criticized. This quality has affected my performance as a team leader and had severe adverse impacts on the results of the team. For this reason, I am trying very hard to change my behavior for the benefit of my group and patients (Manojlovich, 2007).

Change and Conflict Handling

Nurses, apart from executing their duties, also act as change agents. They initiate changes that impact the nursing field. One way through which they bring change is by contesting various political positions. When they win in such contests, they can push for favorable legislation (Barker & DeNisco, 2013). Another way is by applying various organizational and change theories. Organizational theories are applied in specific contexts to bring orderliness while change theories are mainly applied to bring about behavioral changes which help nurses to co-exist and relate well with patients. This helps to avoid the emergence of conflicts.

Conflicts are bound to arise in any setting and the nursing field is no exception. As such, methods of handling conflicts are necessary. One of the effective ways is through compromise. Another alternative is the avoiding strategy, where the focus is on creating delays in conflicts so that measures to combat them are put in place.

Leadership and Differences in Character

The issues of culture and gender have resulted in a number of differences among people. These differences have had an impact on performance at work. According to Lieberman (2015), men originated from Mars while women came from Venus. This difference according to him has had an impact on the style of communication. A good nurse leader should appreciate such differences and devise a plan to overcome them.

Emotional Intelligence

Nurse leaders should possess Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills. EI enables them to read emotions and make the necessary adjustments according to the perceived emotional state of their subordinates (Cassady & Eissa, 2008). Cassady and Eissa (2008) illustrated this by carrying out an experiment using a nurse who worked in a very busy ED of a hospital. The nurse was subjected to different types and levels of stressful situations. In this case, emotions were frayed and as a result the nurse was unable to function well. EI enables leaders to strike a balance between work performance and emotion, and as such enables the application of measures that ensure emotions do not affect the performance of nurses.

Nursing Informatics

Nursing Informatics is the use of information systems and electronic health records in the provision of health services. It helps nurse leaders to carry out their functions efficiently by making information readily available to them. The same systems assist in administration by helping in relaying information quickly. However, nursing Informatics may detach leaders from their subordinates and for this reason kill the spirit of teamwork (McCartney, 2004).

Conclusion

Nurse leaders perform numerous duties in emergency departments which require them to possess excellent leadership skills that will enable them to work efficiently with other nurses towards the realization of optimal results. They should be able to gauge the performance of their subordinates by reading their emotions. Finally, leadership is not only about applying what you have learned. Rather, it is about developing personal skills. Good personal skills combined with what I have discussed above will result in the best performance.

References

Barker, M., & DeNisco, S. M. (2013). Advanced practice nursing: Evolving roles for the transformation of the profession. Boston: Jones & Bartlett.

Cassady, J., & Eissa, A. (2008). Emotional intelligence: Perspective from educational and positive psychology. New York: Peter Lang.

Lauby, S. (2004). 7 Types of Power in the Workplace. Web.

Lieberman, S. (2015). Differences in Male and Female Communication Styles. Web.

Manojlovich, M. (2007). Power and Empowerment in Nursing: Looking Backward to Inform the Future. Web.

McCartney, P. (2004). Leadership in nursing informatics. Journal of Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurses, 33(3), 371-380.

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