Review the position description of a nurse manager or other nurse in a leadership position, in a health care agency.
Position description of Danielle Davies of Mountainside hospital Montclair entails displaying strong leadership aspects and role modelling in order to ensure there is maintenance and growth of healthcare standards. She is a preceptor and a charge nurse accountable for the organization, management of human and material resources, care and critical analysis. Program structuring, employee relations, personal influence and professional creditability are also part of her responsibility.
What are the educational and credential requirements of this position? Are they significant?
To carry out responsibilities as a nurse manager, an individual should be a registered nurse. A nurse manger should have a Bachelor’s Degree in nursing and higher level of the educational program in the health care administration. They should have a nursing or adult education with 24 months minimum experience in the health requirements of a population. They require a continuing professional licensure education of 30 hours every 2 years within the period of two years. They should have documentation in Basic Life Support. A continuing administrative practice education of 16 hours every 2 years are an added advantage. Depending on the employer, the nurse manager should meet the requirement pursuing education courses in managerial practices. These requirements are significant since nurses should achieve educational credentials that enable them to understand the doctrines and practices of any health care unit.
Describe the role, and responsibilities of this position.
The primary roles of Danielle Davies are to act as a clinical instructor and a charge nurse. Clinical instructors plan and direct various activities within their respective departments to ensure that the patients get high quality health services. They select the nurses to work in their units and help them to learn and do their jobs effectively. They assess the staff’s performance and maintain a follow up on the quality standards of their department to make sure that the staffs meets these standards. Instructors ensure that the department has the necessary resources and plans necessary for the staff development lessons, as well. Being a charge nurse may entail working with other departments to help coordinate the entire hospitals healthcare and formulate long-term strategies for the provision of healthcare. They come up with budget estimations for their departments and monitor the expenses and purchases to ensure that they correspond to the budget (Anthony et al, 2000).
Nurse Managers have a responsibility of formulating a positive environment in their departments. These that will make the staff members feel appreciated and encouraged to offer their best effort. The nurse manager must be an excellent communicator who ensures information lows back and forth in the department in order to establish a favourable environment. They need to uphold a culture that is performance oriented where the nurses constantly strive to meet or surpass the set care standards (Anthony et al, 2000).
How does it fit into the structure of the nursing division and the organization? Is it congruent with the mission of the agency?
Mountainside hospital aims at meeting the needs of the people living in the communities it serves in order to make sure that they have accessibility to quality healthcare. Its target is to employ the highest ethic principles and processes that will result to excellence driven hospitals since it recognises healthcare resolute locally, and its style is reflective. The role of Danielle Davis is crucial in helping the hospital achieve this since she helps create a positive environment that will motivate workers perform better in order to attain the highest level of the hospital standards (Yoder-Wise, 2010).
Does this position description address key nursing leadership competencies?
The position description addresses competencies in various areas inclusive of communication, professionalism, knowledge of the healthcare environment and relationship management. These areas intersect with leadership competences, business skills and principles. Communication and association building entail shared decision-making and multidisciplinary processes. Knowledge of the health care environment includes the clinical practice awareness and understanding of its outcome measurements. The use of these methods varies within the level of management responsibility where at the lower level the technical is crucial for efficient operation. As the manager moves further from actual operations, the need for technical skill decreases and conceptual skills becomes increasingly critical for the success of the administration. Nurse Managers are responsible to upper-administration for implementation of the philosophy, standards and goals of the hospital administration at the unit-level (Alcorn & Topping, 2009).
How important are they?
Communication
Communication is an essential characteristic for a nurse manager. It is critical to reduction of medical errors and provision of excellent working standards. Danielle Davies had good communication skills that enabled her to outline the goals and objectives of the organisation. She effectively communicated with the workers and assigned tasks to them without intimidation. She interacted with staff members and patients with respect and suitable authority. Communicating her objective and goals effectively to staff members enabled them attain the hospitals’ aspirations (Yoder-Wise, 2010).
Staff
These competencies enable Davies to display accommodative behaviours in working with staff, rewards and celebrate the successes of staff in a manner that is meaningful to the staff members. She was able to work towards building a correlating relationship with every member of the staff, and this helped her learn about the staff members. With the transitional leadership style and communication, she encouraged them to work towards achieving the highest level of competency (Anthony et al, 2000).
Patients
They promote a commitment to patient’s well-being and encourage celebration of performances in order to build a unified unit. These competencies are essential, as they remain sensitive and flexible to the scheduling needs of the patient. The competencies help in maintaining the confidentiality between patient and staff interactions as well as handling complaints from a customer in a professional and discreet manner. They monitor the customer’s service survey result, include the staff on correction planning and incorporate the patients into deliberate planning for services. The competencies will enable her to contribute in improving performance that reviews and monitors the institutions use to evaluate patient care. The skills promote observations of the work surroundings for possible safety issues, which could affect the staff and patients (Anthony et al, 2000).
Other professionals
Leadership competencies are essential to drive the organisation onto the cutting boundaries of modern technologies. They form the fundamental structure, which detaches leaders from bosses. These skills generate the walls and interiors of the company and a leader cannot do without them. Organisations require various sets of professional competencies for every management position. Leaders should have an essential understanding of the processes and systems they manage. Each position needs a different set of knowledge and skills, which are necessary for communication and teamwork (Anthony et al, 2000).
Delegation
Delegation is a fundamental tool to nursing practice and graduated nurses should have the skill, personal attributes, and knowledge and judgement abilities to delegate nursing care effectively in the current complex health care surroundings. Nurse Managers presume the leadership accountability of delegation and preparation for this competency entails her capability to direct the care giving team while aiming at the optimal patient outcomes. Through delegation, she can make sure the nurses deliver knowledge based nursing care. Delegation is the management tool that enabled her to use both personal experiences knowledge and to help others through prioritizing skilful nursing care (Anthony et al, 2000).
Decision making including shared governance
In the capability of nursing workforce can be efficient when a transformational nurse manager works within the heart of every action processes. Methods interlinked with transformational leadership are the basis for moving forward through a series of implementation, reconnaissance, evaluation and planning, the standards of shared government including equity, ownership. Danielle used her transformational style to achieve a competent, confident, and dedicated nursing workforce that embraces constant learning and conveys a professional value for each other. The practical connection of the ideas action processes, transformational leadership and shared governance give a framework for appropriate transformation processes at both a unit and organizational level (Yoder-Wise, 2010).
Patient safety
Leadership competencies that surround patient safety are essential to the identification and establishment of skills common to nurses in healthcare practice. Danielle’s measures particularly concerns with the safety of the patient and features of the quality of care that changes in the delivery of care may affect. These competencies enabled her to have information that creates a culture of safety and bases on the science of patient safety that is a key competency for nurse leaders. Through these skills, she was able to maintain a competent workforce and identify sets of skills relevant to her administration (Alcorn & Topping, 2009).
Resource management
The manager is accountable for the organization all resources under her organization. They include resources such as professionals, personnel, and others with budget and personnel emerging as the most significant resources. With the advance in technology, hospitals need to integrate budget and personnel with informatics as the fundamental resource elements. It is crucial to manage patient care and services effectively at a suitable cost. Nurse Managers that are familiar with business principles is channels for ensuring affordable, safe and effective, care for the patient. Her direct responsibility is to manage the unit’s budgetary allocation. In order for nurse managers to assign monetary resources into supplies, equipments, payroll and patient care areas, they should have financial and business skills (Anthony & Vidal, 2010).
Quality improvement
These skills enable her to be efficient in assessing products since a manager needs to analyze product and services constantly to avoid errors and achieve customer satisfaction. They will enable her motivate nurses to work towards achieving the patients care quality development aims and objectives (Alcorn & Topping, 2009).
Change management
Danielle Davies as a nurse manager should aim at functioning with the major changes occurring within the organization. With the involved adjustments, it is significant helping nurses specified at differing levels of the organization to understand the reality in existence currently. This is of the healthcare system with an engagement in the designing of a considerable preferred future state. Quality improvement process and activities with redesigns create disrupt and anxiety of the patient care environment. The new construction, technology implementation and redesigning meant for improvising on the work flow are the major opportunities meant for disruption and nursing leadership to involve staff in the creation of a future healthcare setting. The adjustments of the dynamism form a specified panic with dread to make challenges with opportunity can manage to have profound effects on the staff buy with morale (Anthony et al, 2000).
Ethics
These skills enable the leaders to apply ethical principles to procedures involved in the healthcare practices. They will be able to incorporate high ethical values and core principles articulate the relevance of ethical beliefs in the daily activities. These will enable them create an environment that has a reputation for moral standards thus a conducive atmosphere that will motivate the nurses and patients (Anthony & Vidal, 2010).
Regulatory compliance
The skill will enable the nurse leader to ensure that individuals are aware of the organisational goals and objectives and take measures to comply with the relevant laws and regulations. Nurses need these skills to carry out effective, operational transparency due to the increasing number of health care regulations (Alcorn & Topping, 2009).
Evidence based practice
It is appropriate to use research findings in health care practices. Nursing leadership competencies will enable the Nurse Managers embrace the use or research findings, consistent, valuable data from quality developments and assessment projects to generate formal change for health care practitioners. The use of evidence practice is crucial for critical, reflective practice. This will enable them achieve target outcomes that are evident based and thus improve the quality of healthcare services (Anthony & Vidal, 2010).
Self-development
Skills will assist in the nurse leader assessing their personal goals and create an environment that facilitates a team to produce results. They will, learn effective ways to handle own behaviour and actions (Alcorn & Topping, 2009).
Describe one leadership style and discuss how a nursing leader would apply its principles to the successful implementation of the job requirements for the position that you have described
Transformational leadership style leads to leader efficiency, high clinical nursing qualities and an increase in the nursing job satisfaction. Transformational factors such as intellectual stimulation, individual consideration and charisma highly affect a leader’s ability in organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Leader charisma determines the employee’s attitude since they always attempt to replicate their transformation leaders. Employees put a lot of trust in their leader’s mission, judgement and they support their leader’s values along with adopting them since they develop strong emotional ties to the leader. These leaders employ a creative style that inspires the employees to build up their work and make self-regulating decisions.
This style enhances positive well-being of employees since these leaders are more optimistic than others are, interpret their environment positively and therefore act as a source of inspiration. Through inspirational enticement, these leaders influence self-efficiency through communicating a smart vision and setting patent goals. This style enabled Danielle Davis to become a passionate, self-confident and inspiring motivator to her students. She allowed her employees to feel proud of their work and participate in problem solving through contributing their ideas. This created a positive environment for work since they felt inspired to work towards achieving the organisations goals and mission (Yoder-Wise, 2010).
References
Alcorn, J., & Topping, A. E. (2009). Registered nurses’ attitudes towards the role of the healthcare assistant. Nursing Standard, 23(42), 39-45.
Anthony, M. K., & Vidal, K. (2010). Mindful communication: a novel approach to improving delegation to unlicensed assistive personnel. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 30(10), 474-481.
Anthony, M. K., Standing, T.S., & Hertz, J. E. (2000). Factors influencing outcomes after delegation and increasing patient safety. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15(2), n.p. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/
Azaare, J., & Gross, J. (2011). The nature of leadership style in nursing management. British Journal Of Nursing, 20(11), 672-680.
Salanova, M., Lorente, L., Chambel, M. J., & Martínez, I. M. (2011). Linking transformational leadership to nurses’ extra-role performance: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work engagement. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 67(10), 2256- 2266. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05652.x
Yoder-Wise, S. P. (2010). Leading and managing in nursing. 5th Edition New York: Mosby healthcare assistant. Nursing Standard, 23(42), 39-45.
