There are a couple of challenges that are faced by those in the leadership positions in the nursing profession. To establish what is necessary for useful leadership skills it was paramount to carry out a research activity that involved interviewing one of the most experienced nurse leaders. I carried an interview with Jessica Hancock NP who works with the Gastroenterology Associates in Moline IL and Davenport IA. Her experience proved useful in the establishment and the creation of strong feedback which meant that the information was reliable. I sought her input on some of the main issues that create a challenge to nurse leaders. Having taken a look at the structure of the clinical facility, Jessica also proved further said that some of the nursing and inter-professional teams that operate within that facility are the LPNs, MA, and care provided by ancillary staff, for instance, the schedulers and receptionists. Jessica alleged she further coordinates with local hospitals and community providers to guarantee seamless care. According to her feedback, I came to acknowledge the magnitude of the impact of LPNs in the running of the healthcare facility.
Nursing practices have been changed in the recent years including the difference in the operational scope within the facility. From the interview, I obtained substantial proof of an example of a nursing practice that has been changed in the last year to be the follow up on colon cancer screening guidelines. According to Jessica, cancer is the modern-time disease that confronts the healthcare world in recent days; therefore, there have been massive changes in the treatment approach of the seemingly tedious disease. Further, the interviewee stated that there have also been changes in the care of inflammatory bowel patients such as ulcerative colitis and Crohns hence making specific holistic care for instance immunization psychiatric evaluation and dermatology/bone scans referrals as well as smoking cessation programs. These changes, as she opined were seen as positive steps towards securing better health service to the deserving patients.
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Nurse leaders consider diverse professional challenges like in the case of Jessica she termed her most significant problem to be the IBD patients who have low compliance rates due to a lifelong illness that also requires extensive follow-up. The operational difficulties that arise from the complications of patient’s adherence to the medical rules, as well as the difficulty to stick to the arising changes in the medical fields, are not easy to overcome. Despite this fact that even the common diagnosis is always before 25 further fueling non-adherence, nurses still find another one or couple of reasons to stick to their profession. Like in the case of Jessica, she loves having some time to spend with patients that physicians may not; making sure that they understand the pathophysiology behind the diagnosis and knowing that she is responsible for letting them know the reason behind why they must do what they need to be healthy. As Jessica states, healthcare leaders can find peace and joy through interacting with their juniors and subjects.
Despite the challenges faced in the nursing profession, there are a couple of other reasons to still choose the nursing profession . For instance, Jessica says that she accepted the job because initially, it seemed to be a low-risk environment for litigation; she further stated that she had no idea of how much she would grow to understand GI or how extensive and intertwined GI is with other systems. This is an encouraging insight towards the embracing of a career path about healthcare services. Moreover, some people engage in other professions but still choose to settle as nurses despite the challenges faced by those already in the field more so the nurse leaders ( Tyczkowski, et al., 2015) . The leadership and service in the nursing industry is a calling that only the dedicated should heed to . Jessica Hancock for instance; said in the interview process that she had been involved in other forms of nursing like emergency nursing, cardiac, home care and home care administration but chose still to be a nurse leader at the facility.
Having taken a keen observation of how some of the activities in Gastroenterology Associates in Moline IL and Davenport IA are carried out most notably the ones relating to nursing, I tried to find out from the interviewee the company’s culture. I fully realize and recognize that an organization’s culture has an impact on the extent to which staffs together with other support perform in every organization. The interviewee described the company’s culture as an educating culture and one upon which social skills and critical thinking can be built . Further, when I asked her of her role in admission and staffing decisions, she elaborated that her responsibility in staffing, unfortunately, occurs after hiring. She also stated that the company’s office manager insists on solely decision making which she disagrees with very much. With these facts, I can conclude my observation of the interviewee be a transformational leader something she also affirmed to be true. In other words, she said that she takes what is there of, identify coach and implement change. She has changed and influenced other nurses to give their best in their service to the healthcare facility. Jessica feels this is most effective because it creates strong cliques who are committed to a cause and opportunity for growth in all of them. Just as n the case of FitzPatrick, Doucette, Cotton, Arnow & Pipe (2016), s he has also been able to embrace the challenges and the changes in the healthcare profession as the surest means of improving the service quality to all t he patients in the healthcare facility.
In a nutshell, I can affirm that the interview which was occasioned to determine some of the challenges faced by nurse leaders was a success. Further, Jessica proved the fact that despite the adverse challenges nurse leaders face there are still reasons to stand by the profession. Conversely, some of the challenges faced by nurse leaders can only be determined by engaging nurse leaders in conversations to realize the challenges they face.
References
FitzPatrick, K., Doucette, J. N., Cotton, A., Arnow, D., & Pipe, T. (2016). The mindful nurse leader: Advancing executive nurse leadership skills through participation in action learning. Nursing management , 47 (10), 40-45.
Tyczkowski, B., Vandenhouten, C., Reilly, J., Bansal, G., Kubsch, S. M., & Jakkola, R. (2015). Emotional intelligence (EI) and nursing leadership styles among nurse managers. Nursing administration quarterly , 39 (2), 172-180.
