Nursing and Leadership

In addition to being a professor, the interviewee also works as a nurse administrator. He started his leadership role as a nurse manager after which he was promoted to work as a nurse administrator. Working at New Jersey League Hospital within the administrative department, the interviewee performs two primary roles, namely: administrative and clinical roles. The interviewee performed his clinical role where he was in charge of the blood dispensing and surgery program. This enabled him to see patients and manage their care. On the other hand, he performed his administrative job in food quality improvement.

Question 1

1. Hospital redesign/restructuring; decreasing nursing budgets; health care reform; and managed care Quality of nursing graduates
2. Decreasing numbers of nursing positions, use of non-licensed assistive personnel
3. Ethical-legal concerns, liability issues
4. Communication in the newspaper about nurses and the nursing profession
5. Increasingly complex technology, sicker patients
6. Advanced practice roles in nursing

Question 2

In the next 5 years, the nursing sector is foreseen to encounter great problem in leadership and leadership structure. The current leadership structure is at a crisis since a leader is obligated to perform a wide range of responsibilities. This ultimately hinders their ability to perform the primary designated roles as a leader. On the other hand, the nursing industry is expected to face a lot of challenges due to poor a recruitment process. Hence, it is important for hospitals to emphasize on the process of recruiting nurses. The management ought to check on how they recruit nurses, how they use the available nurses, how they introduce them to the organization, and changing the care delivery and model that nurses use. Hospitals should also avoid recruiting registered nurses because it would be very costly. On the contrary, hospitals are recommended to recruit LPNs as they can skillfully perform all duties done by registered nurses at a lesser cost. LPNs are also more flexible and efficient with the care that they provide to patients. Moreover, an LPN can acquire more nursing skills by working hand-in-hand with a registered nurse. With both clinical and leadership experience, an LPN nurse who has embarked to studying will enjoy the smooth transition towards becoming a registered nurse. The management is also able to monitor the performance of the LPNsbefore assigning them bigger roles as a registered nurse.

Question 3

The recruitment process can commence with an orientation for three months before the rtrainee works under probation for a three-month period. After the orientation and probation period, evaluation on the new recruit’s performance is done. Continuous evaluation can thereafter be done on a regular basis by monitoring the employee’s work performance, their level of professionalism, and their dedication to the job. Another way through which an evaluation is done is by a three-tier interview which is often carried out by the human resource manager and an experienced nurse. This allows them to conduct a proper evaluation by assessing the trainee’s set of priorities with regard to their job.

Question 4

Nurses have a shared governance model of leadership with 5 councils, namely: practice, quality, research, education, and recruitment. The council comprises of staff nurses who chair the council board. Prior to making any decision, it is important for the council to have the right people and key players who would contribute their suggestions and knowledge with regards to the issue being discussed. In proposing policy changes, a nurse must present their ideas to the council and important key players such as the stakeholders. A decision on whether it is necessary to change the policies is thereafter made by the council, stakeholders, and the government.

Question 5

There is no known nursing research that is being undertaken. However, in cases whereby research is in progress, two teams have to actively participate. There two main teams are; the leadership team and the clinical support team. The leadership team comprising of the manager, the assistant manager, the director ,and the clinical coordinator is responsible for management roles. On the other hand, the the clinical support team composed of the advanced practice nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and the program coordinator for medicine is in charge of all the ongoing research programs.

Question 6

The performance improvement council is responsible for the collection of data from the patients, nurses, and other hospital employees. The collected data is often used for accreditation and in changing certain nursing procedures so as to improve efficiency. Prior to implementing the new processes, the changes and suggestions have to be presented to both the performance improvement department and board.

Question 7

Restructuring of the leadership team so as to introduce nurse leaders and assign them the responsibility of being in charge of different nursing units within the hospital. This is because nurses can better manage themselves from shift to shift. As opposed to an assistant manager, a nurse is more suitable for the leadership role as they would be in charge of a unit that they are familiar with. This would also enable the nurse leaders to form a robust leadership team that would be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for making critical decisions. The nurses would also learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, with an aim of honing their skills and assisting each other in performing an array of tasks with diligence.