Role of the Nurse Executive in Coalition Building

One cannot but encounter the fact that a healthy work environment that basically relies on the establishment of effective coalition processes has a strong connection to the involvement of an appropriate nurse staffing in general and competent nurse executives in particular. Significantly, nurse executives should not be underestimated from the perspective of a crucial role they may potentially play in creating and using coalitions necessary to adequately respond to the constantly changing healthcare environment. Obviously, there is a vast amount of serious challenges along with opportunities “...confronting nurse leaders at the present time.” (Curtis et al., 2011, p. 306) And, hence, they are supposed to perform many functions; yet, of all the functions that nurse executives carry out, enhancing nursing staff teamwork occurs as the higher-priority task. Indisputably, in order to increase the odds of meeting patient expectations that is one of the biggest problems facing nursing today, nurse leadership must be recognized by a society as an integral piece of 21st century nursing practice; specifically speaking, apart from being engaged in framing department directions and strategies, nurse executives do the significant role in “... engaging staff in the development of shared values in their work.” (Sherman & Pross, 2010)  

It is inevitable that a relatively poor value of the U.S. healthcare system raises concerns among the public, and low patient-satisfaction ratings can actually make it appropriate for nurse executives to serve as the acting leaders of a coalition. In particular, the prevalence of negative sentiments toward healthcare indicates that it is a critical moment for improving experiences of care, and nurse executives emerge to be those who can elaborate on most optimal approaches to dealing with patient disputes. However, enhancing experience of individual patients comes to directly depend on the extent to which nurse leaders are likely to foster a team collaboration environment. 

References

Curtis, A. E., et al. (2011). Developing Leadership in Nursing: Exploring Core Factors. British Journal of Nursing. 20 (5), 306-309.

Sherman, R., & Pross, E. (2010). Growing Future Nurse Leaders to Build and Sustain Healthy Work Environments at the Unit Level. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 15(1), Manuscript 1.