Leadership principles and decision making application in the provision of quality nursing care and healthcare team coordination
In my practicum, I learned a lot from my preceptor Tiffany and interacted with professionals who are more qualified in treating patients. Once in my practice, a situation arose when it was necessary to change the course of the patient’s treatment. My leadership competencies helped me overcome my initial feelings of fear to take responsibility and make a decision.
Nurse leaders are committed to constantly seeking continuing education, always striving to improve customer service. A heightened sense of responsibility causes nurses to study the literature on developing problem-solving skills. They conduct research and carefully examine the patient’s medical history, condition, and symptoms. I remember when it took my team about a week to diagnose a patient and prescribe an effective treatment for him correctly. Leadership ensures the quality of nursing services improvement since the responsibility for the decisions made increases.
Nurses must collaborate with other health professionals and health care reformers to keep progressing in health care delivery. Leadership helps in defining the functions of employees and ensures more coherent work within the team (Sfantou et al., 2017). It encourages listening to colleagues, asking each other for treatment advice, and creating clearer nurses’ roles. The concept of interprofessional coordination in leadership implies that nurses can significantly contribute with their knowledge and practical experience.
Organizational structure, mission, vision, philosophy, and values
The leader of our clinic respects the values and mission of the clinic. His mentees follow the same principle, learning to appreciate the philosophy followed by the employees of his place of work. I was convinced of this myself; during the days spent in the hospital, the values instilled in me by my preceptor became close to me.
Citrus Memorial Hospital provides a wide range of services, including gynecology, cardiology, surgery. Nurses must follow the tasks to be solved and the scope of work, determined per the strategic goals and plans of the clinic. However, in the system of professional relations, the doctor and the nurse complement each other. Collaboration is based on leadership management principles, in which the roles of nurses and other clinic staff are identified.
The mission is to provide the highest quality and most effective services aimed at a speedy recovery and improving the patient’s health.
Citrus Memorial Hospital is planning to become a recognized leader in national healthcare by constantly improving the qualifications of its employees and providing the best treatment for patients.
The philosophy of nursing reflects the attitude of a nurse to her work, forms a holistic view of nursing, the role and place of nursing personnel in it. The clinic adheres to the principle of non-delay in the provision of appropriate services and strives to minimize the number of medical and treating errors.
Among the values that should be named is all specialists’ teamwork, which helps to accompany the patient at all stages of treatment. Improvement of qualifications and knowledge of nurses is ensured by regular study of new techniques (Wu et al., 2019). For the clinic staff, the patient’s health is a paramount priority- the nurse takes professional responsibility for the treatment outcome.
I got acquainted with the standards of my clinic during my training, and now I can not work outside of the values perceived during this program. I noticed how sensitive my colleagues are while providing help and striving to improve their skills, and now I have to act the same way. I also drew on the importance of leadership for my unit and how the decisions made affect the results, which motivates me to develop my management qualities.
An iterative cycle of clinical judgment, including prioritization and delegation
During the practice, I was given specific tasks related to my field of activity. My mentor delegated them to me since I was the one who had the skills to complete them. I needed to deliver analyses to the laboratory, monitor patients’ comfort, and transport seriously ill patients. I had no complaints about how the practice was arranged regarding delegation and prioritization issues, just as there were no complaints against me from my mentor.
I think that my mentor would agree that I had successfully familiarized myself with the clinical judgment model and am ready to apply it in my practice. I feel ready to take care of the patients myself, and my confidence has increased significantly.
Correct prioritization helps ensure that when there is uncertainty about the diagnosis or course of treatment, all decisions will be made faster and more efficiently. In my practice, a situation arose when it was necessary to provide urgent assistance to one of the patients. In this situation, I focused on helping her – she and her health were my top priority for a short time.
In specialized care, the nurse makes independent decisions on her responsibility. It was unacceptable for me to engage in activities that were not delegated to me during the internship. However, I also did not receive a single assignment that would be beyond my competence.
Professionalism and civility
The nurse’s task is to make the patient an active fighter for maintaining and restoring his health. It requires a highly developed level of empathy, the temperament of a medical worker, and his or her friendliness play a crucial role; thus, professionalism is made up of many components (Masmouei et al., 2020). Our mentor often asked us professional questions as we examined clients, and I answered all of them correctly. I was trusted to care for violent patients and treated them with confidence.
Civility is an important quality of a nurse, without which her work is unimaginable. It is necessary to communicate without rudeness with patients so that they are completely satisfied with the services provided. We had several violent patients on our floor who verbally abused the hospital staff. However, I did not react in any way to their insults and remained calm.
Working in my unit, I tried to be friendly towards other employees and patients, even in the most difficult situations. I think my preceptor Tiffany would not argue that I failed this task. Once, I worked with a rude patient who tried to convince me that I was not serving her properly. However, I calmly explained to her the meaning of my actions and persuaded her to calm down, thereby avoiding conflict.
References
Masmouei, B., Bazvand, H., Harorani, M., Bazrafshan, M., Karami, Z., & Jokar, M. (2020). Relationship between personality traits and nursing professionalism. JCCNC, 6(3), 157-162. Web.
Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Importance of leadership style towards quality of care measures in healthcare settings: A systematic review. Healthcare, 5(4), 73. Web.
Wu, X., Wu, X., Gao, Y., Wang, L., Jin, J., Li, Y., Cheng, S., Wen, X., Wang, A., Li, Q., & Shang, S. (2019). Research-training needs of clinical nurses: A nationwide study among tertiary hospitals in China. International journal of nursing sciences, 6(3), 300–308. Web.