Discussion Topic: How does management in nursing practice differ from management in general? What tasks are common to both leadership and management. What are the major leadership styles? Which style is optimal to use in which situation?Nursing Leadership Essay

Discussion Topic: How does management in nursing practice differ from management in general? What tasks are common to both leadership and management. What are the major leadership styles? Which style is optimal to use in which situation?Nursing Leadership Essay

Nursing Leadership Laura Edwards Submitted to Jeanne Morrison PhD, MSN in partial fulfillment of NR622 Advanced Leadership Concepts Regis University October 15, 2011 Nursing Leadership Nursing leaders are crucial to any nursing organization. They motivate, empower, influence, and communicate the organization’s vision to create change within the organization. Great nursing leadership depends on great nursing leaders. This paper will define nursing leadership and describe leadership characteristics. It will further depict the democratic style and transformational theory of nursing leadership. While exploring leadership in action, this paper will illustrate the aspects of nursing. Nursing Leadership Definition “Leadership…show more content…
3). In this relationship, each must work through phases including conflict resolution and negotiation as part of the process. Transformational theory further explains leadership must include exhibiting a degree of emotional intelligence. This occurs when perceiving how others feel, understanding how the feelings lead to thinking, understanding the emotions, and managing emotions internally. In respects to this theory, emotional intelligence enhances this bi-directional relationship between the leader and the followers (Spears, 2002). Transformational theory reminds leaders of how their behavior influences their team members by building trust in the organization, showing how they fit in the organization, and sharing a vision together (Northouse, 2010). Even though all nursing theories share unique criticisms, Northouse (2010) goes on to suggest “more attention should be directed toward how leaders can encourage followers to challenge the leader’s vision and share in the leadership process” (p. 189). A self-assessment tool, such as the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ), can assist the leader in understanding how they can improve their leadership qualities. MLQ examples might include evaluating the awareness of being open to others opinions, demonstrating confidence, or assisting in developing others leadership strengths. Leadership in Action As nursing leadership characteristics, styles, and theories are important to study Nursing Leadership Essay

Globally, health care systems in the developed world continue to struggle with escalating demands for services and escalating costs. Service design inefficiencies, including outmoded models of care contribute to unsustainable funding demands.1 An example is the continuing practice in many settings to look to hospital emergency departments to provide what are essentially, primary health care services. While some progress and reforms have been achieved, numerous experts point to the need for further system change if services are to be affordable and appropriate in the future.2 They note that

[…] further change is still needed, despite years of progress in the quality of health care around the world. This transformation will require leadership – and that leadership must come substantially from doctors and other clinicians, whether or not they play formal management roles. Clinicians not only make frontline decisions that determine the quality and efficiency of care but also have the technical knowledge to help make sound strategic choices about longer-term patterns of service delivery.Nursing Leadership Essay

Effective clinical leadership has been linked to a wide range of functions. It is a requirement of hospital care, including system performance, achievement of health reform objectives, timely care delivery, system integrity and efficiency, and is an integral component of the health care system.2–4 Though most people are provided with health care within the community setting, hospital care continues to garner the bulk of funding and attract considerable attention in relation to care quality and related concerns. Indeed, hospitals are very costly and diverse environments that vary in size and complexity, determined in part by their overall role and function within the larger health care system. The services provided by individual hospitals are determined and driven by a number of mechanisms, including government policy, population demographics, and the politics and power of service providers.5

However, regardless of the differences, the clinical areas of the hospital are critical to all health care organizations, given that it is at this level where consumers principally engage with the hospital system. It is at this point where consumers are recipients of hospital care and where they witness and experience how the system functions, observing the strengths and inefficiencies of the health care system and conflict and collegiality between and among groups of health professionals. It is also at this point that clinicians, defined as any frontline health care professionals, have opportunities to fulfill leadership r