Transformational leadership theory is when a leader collaborates with different teams to bring change, creates a vision that leads towards change, and works out to effectively effect change with all teams (Weberg, 2010). This leadership seeks to collaborate, empower, motivate, and improve employee performance through different mechanisms. The transformational leader aims to encourage employees to drive change on their own while recognizing their strengths and weaknesses and putting in place ways to help employees overcome weaknesses. This way, the leader acts as an inspiration to juniors hence inspiring them to achieve beyond their imagined potentials. The healthcare system is dynamic, with challenges that have to be overcome on a daily system to enable efficient service delivery to patients. Transformational leadership is essential in a unit to improve nurses' working environment and improve patient safety (Page, 2004).
The Preferred Provider care delivery system is a system of delivering care where system providers subscribe to a medical arrangement between a payer, a preferred provider organization, and patients (Gabel &Ermann, 1985). Patients in a PPO can access services within specific healthcare providers at a subsidized price. If the patient seeks healthcare outside the provider list, they risk incurring more costs (Gabel &Ermann, 1985). Hence, as a nurse working in a unit under a PPO-based system, a patient's concern must be placed at the center of everything. Also, it is essential to ensure that nurses have a favorable working environment with favorable working conditions. This means that as a nurse manager in a unit, I ought to possess leadership that can work with the PPO organization, patients, and staff.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Working under a PPO-based system means that the insurer and administrator have the right to review patient management practices to ensure that they remain honest. This means that while the use of evidence-based nursing practice should be put into use, in some situations, the insurer or administrators may not fully agree with the management, which differs from patient to patient. This means that some employees may be demoralized and feel the need to abdicate their autonomy in decision-making (Page, 2004). As a transformational leader, it is essential to ensure employee morale and belief in their expertise. This means that I ought to organize a meeting with the payer or administrator to review management administered to patients. This meeting gives every employee a chance to be heard and restores confidence in employees. According to research, when employees have trust in their leaders and organizations, they can affect change by improving their individual and group adaptability. One way of securing trust is when employees see leaders as people who adhere to the values of medicine and nursing. Hence, it is crucial to ensure a common ground with payers in patient management, based on best-practice to ensure employee trust is earned and retained
A unit under a PPO gives the patient a chance to get the best management at a cost subsidized cost. This means that the patient is entitled to get the best and most comprehensive services possible from the facility. As a nurse manager in a unit, I ought to initiate and manage innovative ways of providing comprehensive and quality management to patients within the unit’s budget. As a transformational leader, I ought to ensure training, efficient communication, enforcement of measurement, feedback, and redesign mechanisms to drive change (Page, 2004). Communication with employees ensures that they understand any changes or innovations and the nature of that change. Communication with employees ensures the flow of feedback regarding any changes effects. It is even more crucial when any changes make anyone feel redundant or ambiguous (Weberg, 2010). Employees who think they are ambiguous often have a lower motivation for work. Also, the involvement of the workers in driving change through the planning and design of any change is essential. Employees who feel affected by any change often react negatively to change (Page, 2004). Hence, for effective change in a unit, transformational leadership is necessary.
A healthcare unit often requires the ability to cooperate with other institutions. This is because a patient usually has invested in their payer, and failure to offer best practices means that they exhaust their insurance without getting value (Gabel &Ermann, 1985). Hence, as a unit manager, it is crucial to determine when the need for referrals or collaborations arise. Often, this involves communicating with the payer, manager, healthcare professionals, and the patients. As a transformational leader, I would start with employee training on the importance of determining a patient who needs extra care. Also, establishing open and effective communication is essential to ensure that patient's conditions are communicated openly to determine when additional interventions are required. Employees must take charge of their decisions and drive the process of care (Page, 2004). Taking charge allows them to be prompt in their work yet following the prescribed guidelines of the organization. It is also essential that as a leader, I communicate any decisions made to the administrator to ensure the confidence in autonomy is retained.
Transformational leadership is essential in ensuring that nurses have a work environment that is the most conducive for patients. This is because a conducive work environment means operating under an organization such as a PPO and always effecting change. A transformational leader can inspire others to act independently, which is essential for change in any organization. The leader also needs to communicate effectively and build trust within the unit. The characteristics of a transformative leader suit the healthcare system that demands the best within a specific scope of affordability and with constant organizational changes.
References
Gabel, J., & Ermann, D. (1985). Preferred provider organizations: performance, problems, and promise. Health Affairs , 4 (1), 24-40.
Page, A. (Ed.). (2004). Keeping patients safe: Transforming the work environment of nurses . National Academies Press.
Weberg, D. (2010). Transformational leadership and staff retention: an evidence review with implications for healthcare systems. Nursing administration quarterly , 34 (3), 246-258.
