Effective Approaches To Leadership And Management (Essay Sample)

Effective Approaches To Leadership And Management
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Effective Approaches To Leadership And Management
Concerns about continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction remain a global concern in the health care system (Sherwood, & Barnsteiner, 2012). Many quality statement publications have, in that effect, been published, which nurse leaders and nurse managers can use as a guide to delivering patient-focused quality care. Among other things, patients must be treated with kindness, dignity, courtesy, compassion, understanding, respect, and honesty. To achieve these objectives, nursing leaders and managers have different, and in other times, shared roles to play in that light. This paper compares and contrasts how nursing leaders and managers should approach the subject matter. To augment discussion, it describes the best approach I would take based on my personal and professional nursing philosophy, explaining why it is best suited for my leadership style.
Comparing and contrasting
To compare and contrast nursing leaders and managers, it is imperative to identify their qualification for the position. Nursing leaders are trained professionally as a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL). They are prepared as generalists at the Master's degree level. Besides additional competencies delineated in by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (1998) Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, they must be competent based on the outline in the AACN (2003) Working Paper, describing the role of the CNL (Rigolosi, 2013). Meanwhile, the nursing managers are often prepared at the Bachelor of Science or higher level.
Generally, leaders have no designated authority; leadership is a behavior, and not a position. Their power is acquired informally by team members. Nursing leaders should, therefore, focus on empowering, inspiring, motivating, and influencing their unit members. A typical nursing leader should have not only good nursing communication skills, but also exquisite interpersonal skills. To ensure continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction, a true nursing leader should be sincere and energetic in implementation of quality-based standards, policies, guidelines, and procedures. Meanwhile, managers obtain their status formally, a position which is provided within the formal organization. With a formal position, nursing managers should carry out their specific assigned duties and definite responsibilities. In ensuring continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction, nursing managers should exercise control over the processes, decision-making, as well as the work of all teams and departments or units. Good nursing managers use their skills in coordinating both financial and human resources to facilitate the implementation of quality-based standards, policies, guidelines, and procedures to meet the organizational goals and objectives. Good managers use reward and punishment effectively.
During continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction, nursing managers should function as clinical discipline leader, providing the administrative or operational practice on entire, specific, cluster, multidisciplinary, or a continuum of units/departments. Meanwhile, the nursing leaders should operate as clinical generalist who provide and manage care in a direct care setting to patients or individuals, families, and communities (Sollecito, & Johnson, 2013) to ensure not only their satisfaction, but also continuous quality. Both are, however, can be based on all forms of health care settings, such as acute and outpatient. They should view continuous quality and patient satisfaction through a comprehensive and holistic view of patient care.
Nursing managers should manifest a higher expertise level in balancing both business and clinical operations necessary for managing the individual patient care units and/or clinics (Rigolosi, 2013). They should support the structures through which quality and patient satisfaction can be delivered. Meanwhile, to ensure continuous quality and patient satisfaction, nursing leaders should assess individuals, and families to anticipate risks. They should also design and implement care plans, and provide oversight of delivery and outcomes. However, both understand and champion for the imperative requirements for patient safety and care in all units.
Acting as consultants and mentors, nursing managers should provide expert professional knowledge and skills in various specific care departments to develop the technical and professional skills of all health care teams. Meanwhile, nursing leaders should act as implementors of mass customization principles to ensure consistency within their population. Using strategies for risk anticipation and assessment, they should design, implement, and evaluate care plans for patients within their teams. Both should, however, use their professional skills and knowledge, as well as various informational technologies, and outcome databases to undertake their responsibilities for health care promotion and risk reduction for patients.
In line with the vision and mission, nursing managers should, also, identify the need for and formulate new standards, policies, guidelines, and procedures within the health care organization and across departments (Rigolosi, 2013). Besides identification and development, nursing leaders should lead the implementation and evaluation of standards, policies, guidelines, and procedures to impact patient care within the micro-system. However, both must be knowledgeable of health organizations, systems, and policy leadership, to implement evidence-based standards, policies, guidelines, and procedures.
Importantly, nursing leaders and managers should possess important skills such as critical thinking, active listening, and good copying to ensure a seamless application of health care policies and activities. They should be active and politically aware, read professional journals, and attend continuous education, training, and seminars (CMEs) essential for continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction.
Personal Best approach
Based on, not only my personal and professional philosophy, but also my personality, the best leadership approach I would take in ensuring continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction is participative leadership. Also known as democratic leadership, this type of approach allows for team members' active participation in the decision-making process. It is one of the highly effecti...