I participated in the Arizona State Board of Nursing (AZBN) - Nursing Assistant Educators Conference. The theme was, “Exploring the role of professional nurse leadership in today’s nursing and health care delivery.” The platform was designed for nursing students, health science and healthcare students and professionals, practitioners and researchers. Inspiring speakers and professional educators from all over Arizona and other States attended the conference. There were many symposiums and exhibition workshops. The different speakers and exhibitors attending provided many insights into the role of professional nurse leadership. The lectures were timed on an hourly basis with sessions in between where I had a chance to interact with exhibitors and attend the various workshops displaying the latest innovations, products, systems, equipment, and specialty items. During the conference, my insight into professional nurse leadership was enhanced. During the event, it was clear that requirement for nurse leadership and management in health care institutions is growing rapidly in the modern world due to the ever increasing health care needs, introducing more nursing opportunities. Speakers made it clear that it is of paramount importance to define the value of nursing care, to be able to meet the ever changing healthcare requirement of today’s world. According to Yoder-Wise (2014 ), the nursing profession must incorporate the professional leadership and management aspects in operations in order to determine whether the value of services provided meets the expectations of the patients. Competent leadership and management are required to fill the new roles created and necessitated by the evolving healthcare requirements. This paper seeks to highlight the qualities and functions of nurse leadership and management in a patient-centered healthcare delivery system.
Observational objectives
My personal objectives for attending the conference was to get to know the how leadership is manifested in professional nursing, to establish the typical characteristics of nurse leaders and managers, with the aim of providing self-motivation to becoming a nurse leader in my future nursing profession. My other objective was to establish the effect of professional nurse leadership and management affects the other healthcare providers. One of the major leadership theories I observed was the application of chaos theory, which suggests that healthcare units are interconnected in an intricate web, and when one unit is displaced, it causes the other units to attain a new configuration while the whole remains ( Sanders & Lyster 2016). Speakers from the different health care departments demonstrated the intricate relationship web of nursing and other healthcare organizations, and the way leadership in each profession affects other professions. It was a consensus that different healthcare organizations must work together in determining the ever changing factors affecting health care structures and functioning since when one unit is affected, all other units have to adapt to the change effected. According to Yoder-Wise (2014 ), the proponents of chaos theory state that for organizations to survive, they must possess self-organization and the capacity to adapt, owing to the fact that change must occur. Such adaptations require that nurse roles possess the right professional skills and capacity to coordinate the care for the patient with other health care related disciplines and institutions.
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Observed Leadership Principles in Nurse Leaders
The conference provided a deep insight into the roles of responsible leadership in professional nursing. The nurse leader employed lateral communication in operations, eliminating limitations of hierarchical communication, which discourages autonomy in patient care delivery. According to Sanders & Lyster (2016), o rganizations with flat structures of management eliminate bureaucracy, providing the opportunity for entire teams’ involvement in decision-making . One speaker argued that with a flat communication structure, student nurses and baccalaureate-prepared nurses have the rare opportunity of interacting with decision makers, thus promoting inclusivity and according them the necessary motivation. During a session with one exhibitor, I discovered that the level of care patients can receive in a certain institution is dependent on the ownership and management of such institutions and therefore nurses have to assume the role of liaison between the patient and the health provider. Professionals in the nursing industry must keep accumulating new skills and knowledge in leadership and management ( Sanders & Lyster 2016). This is important in making treatment decisions, in providing care and in assigning treatment options such as choice of tools against available funding, requirement by patient etc. Further, knowledge of the elements driving change in the health care is necessary in establishing of health policies through proper leadership and management ( Porter-O'Grady & Malloch 2014).
Responsibilities of a Professional Nurse Leader
During the event, I learnt of the core leadership principle of nurse leaders through the different sessions of lecture I attended. The nurse leader coordinates the patient care team, is responsible and accountable for care provision, consults and collaborates with other healthcare professionals across the disciplines involved in healthcare provision and commits fully to proactive their abilities and qualifications to plan and deliver patient care. In addition, the nurse leader engages therapeutically with their patients to support their adaptation to the healing process ( Yoder-Wise, 2014 ). I observed during the clinic sessions that the nurse leader in charge possessed affective characteristics evident to patient-centered care and other health care professionals In addition, the nurse leader must be time effective, able to evaluate and prioritize processes that maximize nursing efficiency, while eliminating redundancy and reworking ( Sanders & Lyster, 2016) . The nurse leader always endeavors to provide value-based environment such that to decrease unnecessary patient revisits, re-hospitalizations and service utilization, which in the end saves costs. Further, they must be cost conscious and versant with prevailing costs and reimbursements practices, and integrate knowledge of these practices in care-related decisions ( Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2014) .
Comparison between Leadership and Management Activities
From my interaction with professionals during the conference, and with theoretical evidence, I conclude that both leadership and management must implement appropriate workable team nursing methods for patient care delivery, achieving patient outcomes, and due sensitivity to quality patient care and organization’s budget constraints. In addition, both must demonstrate leadership and tutoring abilities, and clinical competencies acting as mentors ( Porter-O'Grady & Malloch 2014). In patient-focused care unit, the nurse manager is accountable and responsible for the management of nurses and staff from other centralized departments while the nurse leader’s responsibility cuts across different healthcare departments and involves other professionals in healthcare. The nurse leader designs and ensures implementation of care plans while the nurse manager organizes all care needs of the patients and of the family during hospitalization by implementing such care plans ( Yoder-Wise, 2014 ). The nurse manager enhances optimal functioning of the nurse teams through adequate staff mix and through education on care of duty, leadership and management, and team dynamics. In contrast, the nurse leader develops population-effective health care plans for individuals, healthcare units/ teams and specialized groups of patients.
The nurse manager is responsible for budget and cost management of care units, control budget and manage the quality of individual units in primary nursing system. In contrast, the nurse leader is responsible for collection and evaluation of patient outcomes across all environments, and is authorized to alter care plans when situations demand it. It is the responsibility of nurse leader to provide appropriate care to all patients, clinical units and communities ( Yoder-Wise, 2014 ).
The nurse manager determines which regular nurses have the potential to be nurse leaders, assesses quality improvement to ensure clinical pathways are appropriate for diagnosis-related group (DRG) and that case managers are doing their jobs. Since NCM involves all departments of healthcare organizations, the nurse manager facilitates communication between the departments to enhance case management. On the other hand, the nurse leader is responsible for integration of care for predetermined groups of patients laterally across the departments involved through evidence-based practice that maximized patient benefits from latest care delivery innovations ( Yoder-Wise, 2014 ). Other tasks include management of interdepartmental teams and collaboration with other professional in care delivery.
Conclusion
My personal objectives of attending the conference were met. I learnt that the dynamic state of health care organizations require that professional nursing be watchful of the internal and external elements effecting change within healthcare institutions, and to adapt to such by assuming competent leadership and mediatory roles to ensure proper functioning of the organized care industry. I learnt that professional nursing should focus on producing and maintaining skilled leadership and management system of professionals through a properly planned and continuing program of education. Such change requires that nurses possess the political ability to develop policies, coordinate care within the nursing profession and beyond, manage conflicts between patients and healthcare providers and work towards cost effective care.
References
Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2014). Quantum leadership . Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Sanders, T. R., & Lyster, T. (2016). Constant Chaos: Utilizing Change Theory in Baccalaureate Nursing Leadership Education.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2014). Leading and managing in nursing . Elsevier Health Sciences.
