Leadership skills are essential for a professional, and most healthcare-providing organizations require their DNP-prepared employees to be effective managers. Nursing practitioners play an influential role in changing their workplaces for the better because of their connection to the administrative segments and clients where they can successfully gather and deliver feedback (Albert, 2018). Project management is an appropriate strategy for supporting transformational leadership and quality improvement in healthcare organizations (Sipes, 2020). For instance, different challenges occur in distinct departments of an acute care facility, and they require unique solution strategies. Consequently, an effective leader must develop projects involving multiple people and use the available sources effectively. This paper aims to discuss the relationship between transformational leadership necessary for quality improvement in an acute care facility and describe the appropriate project management approaches to support the initiatives.
Transformational leadership is built on inspiring and promoting positive change at a certain organization. The management type is appropriate for driving quality improvement teams, and nursing practitioners with the specific skillset can create and maintain a group’s willingness to make their facility. Transformational leadership requires an individual to be a role model, clearly articulate their intentions regarding the work processes, and have expertise in communicating and empathy with their colleagues (Boamah et al., 2018). Quality improvement is vital for healthcare organizations’ development, and employees there must be aware of the continuous need for noticing the issues and seeking ways to eliminate them. Boamah et al. (2018) claim that “use of transformational leadership behaviors as a useful strategy in creating workplace conditions that promote better safety outcomes for patients and nurses” (p. 186). Indeed, a responsible manager capable of encouraging subordinates to take action is necessary for supporting the culture of positive change.
Improving the outcomes for employees, patients, or overall quality of care is a project-based work as the issues to address can be unrelated and require distinct solutions. The team must evaluate the current situation, identify the cause of a problem, develop a plan, share the activities among the responsible individuals, and create a system to measure the results’ effectiveness (Sipes, 2020). This project management approach is practical for addressing long-term challenges and timely eliminating minor issues.
For instance, my acute care organization has diverse departments such as diabetes management, wound care, palliative support, and rehabilitation, and each unit must provide the highest quality of patient-centered services. The critical improvement challenge is to minimize the chances for clients to develop infectious diseases during their stay at the hospital (Collins et al., 2019). The responsible team contained from the leader and each department’s administrators, and the former’s transformational attitudes increased the effectiveness of the activities selected to address the issue. The participants used project management for taking action: they designed the plan with the goals identified, applied it step-by-step, supervised its realization, and timely evaluated the outcomes (Sipes, 2020). The leader knew that departments have diverse circumstances and prioritized open communication with the units’ representatives to help them find a solution and encouraged them to maintain their performance at the highest level. Their application of project management could also include awarding the best departments’ employees for quality improvement. It could be measured throughout the goal achievement of zero infections, and a leader could drive the positive change through inspiring and providing helpful strategies relevant for each unit.
Transformational leadership can significantly increase the efficiency of an acute care facility quality improvement team’s performance as the leader would maintain the group’s motivation to achieve the results. Execution in such cases requires a practitioner to have well-developed communicative, administrative, and empathic skills. Project management is appropriate for addressing quality challenges such as infections in an acute care facility, and the initiatives can be supported through transformational leadership.
References
Albert, N. M. (2018). Operationalizing a nursing innovation center within a health care system. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 42(1), 43–53. Web.
Boamah, S. A., Laschinger, H. K. S., Wong, C., & Clarke, S. (2018). Effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction and patient safety outcomes. Nursing Outlook, 66(2), 180-189. Web.
Collins, E., Owen, P., Digan, J., & Dunn, F. (2019). Applying transformational leadership in nursing practice. Nursing Standard, 35(5), 59-65. Web.
Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.