Effective Nursing Leadership
In this assignment, you will be writing a 1,000-1,250 word paper describing the differing approaches of nursing leaders and managers to issues in practice. To complete this assignment, do the following:
- Select an issue from the following list: bullying, unit closers and restructuring, floating, nurse turnover, nurse staffing ratios, use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses), or magnet designation.
- Describe the selected issue. Discuss how it impacts quality of care and patient safety in the setting in which it occurs.
- Discuss how professional standards of practice should be demonstrated in this situation to help rectify the issue or maintain professional conduct.
- Explain the differing roles of nursing leaders and nursing managers in this instance and discuss the different approaches they take to address the selected issue and promote patient safety and quality care. Support your rationale by using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager described in your readings.
- Discuss what additional aspects mangers and leaders would need to initiate in order to ensure professionalism throughout diverse health care settings while addressing the selected issue.
- Describe a leadership style that would best address the chosen issue. Explain why this style could be successful in this setting. Use at least three peer-reviewed journal articles other than those presented in your text or provided in the course.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Sample Answer
Effective Nursing Leadership
The selected issue is nurse staffing ratios. Nurse staffing ratios can be a threat to the quality of care and safety of patients. The discussion will include a description of the nurse staffing ratios, professional standards of practice relevant to the issue, the role of nurse leaders and managers, and the best leadership style to approach the issue.
Description of the Selected Issue
The number of nurses available in a healthcare facility is important as it affects the ability to provide quality care to patients. Nurse staff ratios are used to determine the number of nurses compared to the number of patients. Nurse-patient ratios are described as the proportion of nurses per patient. The role of nurse staffing in maintaining patient safety is recognized in the staffing guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Evidence links inadequate nurse staffing to increased patient falls, medication errors, healthcare-related infections, and in-hospital mortality (Haegdorens et al., 2019). Higher staffing ratios are associated with reduced medical errors, restraint use, mortality, pneumonia, and infections, while a low staffing ratio increases the negative outcomes (Driscoll et al., 2018). Low nurse staff ratios overwhelm the nurses and affect their ability to provide comprehensive care to patients. Nurses are more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and cynicism due to increased workload. Increased workload for nurses reduces the time that nurses spend providing care to the patient (Vuong, 2020). This increases the risk of wrong diagnosis or medical errors, hospital-acquired infections increasing the length of hospital stay.
Professional Standards of Practice that Should Be Demonstrated in This Situation to Help Rectify the Issue
The American Nurses Association released updated principles of nurse staffing that should guide nurses and other decision-makers in identifying and developing policies and processes of improving nurse staffing. According to the principles, nurse staffing decisions should be based on the needs of the setting involved, nurses hired should be meet the appropriate competencies and be allowed to practice to the full extent of their education, provision of interprofessional support, adoption of appropriate organizational structures, and evaluation (American Nurse Association, n.d). Healthcare facilities can adopt the recommendation of the World Health Organization to have a nurse-patient ratio of 1:3 and 1:5 in teaching hospitals and general hospitals, respectively (Sharma & Rani, 2020). Depending on state laws, a health facility can adopt the recommended nurse staffing ratios. Health facilities can also adopt the practice of evaluating patient and health outcomes in the facility to determine staffing needs. Collaboration with nurses in decisions related to the hiring of nurses can improve the ratios as nurses can give a clear report of struggles related to understaffing. Nurses can make a better recommendation of the number of staff needed and their competencies to fill the existing gap.
The Differing Roles of Nursing Leaders and Nursing Managers in This Instance and the Different Approaches They Take
Nurse leaders take a hands-on approach to nursing and are involved in overseeing and executing new care policies. Nursing managers, on the other hand, are responsible for hiring and carrying to staff and performance reviews. Nursing managers rely more on leadership skills, but they work directly with patients to implement incentives introduced by nurse leaders. Nursing managers will be more focused on ensuring that the nurse staff are motivated and supported to withstand work pressure related to staff shortage. Lower nurses staffing ratios may be associated with different factors such as high turnover rates that result from nurses quitting their jobs due to different reasons such as lack of job satisfaction, poor working conditions, poor remuneration, and working environment. The nurse manager is likely to adopt transformational and servant leadership. The leadership approach motivates the staff to perform their duties effectively by creating a sense of belonging (Choi et al., 2016). Adopting servant leadership provides an opportunity to build a relationship and develop the skills of team members. The approach can be used to gain an understanding of the needs of the nurse staff. Other nurse managers may choose to adopt the authoritarian leadership style to avoid dealing with concerns raised by the staff by minimizing contact.
