The success of any healthcare organization relies on the effectiveness of the leadership style that is provided by the nurse manager and the top hospital management. Like any other organization, healthcare facilities require effective leadership if the organization is to meet its vision and mission while at the same time keep the patients satisfied and happy. A nurse leader plays a vital role in the functioning of the organization through coordination with other junior staff to ensure the goals of the organizations are met. It is essential that the nurse leader adheres to the effective leadership techniques that will motivate the junior employees to keep working towards the goals of the healthcare facility. The nurse leader must, therefore, act as a role model and provide direction towards the purpose of the organization.
Type of the Healthcare Organization
The kind of the healthcare organization is the Level One Trauma Center located in Sanford. The organization is charged with offering emergency services for the individuals with serious injuries that need immediate and extensive attention. The organization provides comprehensive care for severe injuries such as car crashes, gunshots, serious stabs, injuries from dangerous falls, struck from blunt objects and the traumatic brain injuries. This organization offers specialized services for the patients who need immediate care so that their lives can be saved. If a patient has a severe traumatic injury, such a patient can be brought in at the center in which he will receive emergency care within minutes of arrival. The organization controls bleeding and saves lives of the patients whose lives are in danger due to severe injuries.
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The operational structure of the state trauma organization is made up of six streams which include primary trauma services, metropolitan services, urban trauma services, regional trauma services, rural trauma services and the remote trauma services. The outcome of any organization follows the structure and the control processes that the management has put in place. The designing of the structure and system to provide complex care for the patients require an efficient organizational structure. A trauma center is a hospital that is dedicated to providing trauma care. The trauma center revolves around people and processes as it aims at ensuring severe injuries get immediate and quick care from the healthcare professionals. The society expects the Trauma organizations to offer organized, efficient care and realize that the patient has exceeded their capabilities.
The structure of the organization has been divided into various categories which include the administrative services department, informational service department, therapeutic department, diagnostic department and support department. The administrative department is the head and is led by high-rank officials who include the hospital heads, the CEO, the vice president, and the departmental heads. This department is charged with overseeing the budgeting and financial issues of the organization and the establishment of the policies and procedures of the hospital. This top leadership forms the executive staff of the organization who ensure that the organization is run according to the policies and the procedure that has been put in place.
The informational service department is another category in the hospital structure that is charged with overseeing the documents and processing of the information. This department handles admission matters and is responsible for obtaining any vital information from the clients including the names, address, admitting doctor and diagnosis of the patients. The department also deals with billing and collection for the services that have been rendered to the patients. All the medical records are also maintained in the information service department. Besides, the department is charged with health education, the human resource as well as information systems. The next category in the hospital structure is the therapeutic service department which provides various services to the patients including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, respiratory therapy and medical psychology. This is the level where there are many nursing specialists in charge of various services. This includes the nurse practitioner, emergency room nurse, surgical nurse and the nurse manager who has the overall control of the nurses in the department.
The next level that follows is the diagnostic service department which deals with the determination of the physical injury to the patent. This is usually done in the laboratory test. It then proceeds with the provision of the emergency medicine for the diagnosis and treatment. The CEO of the hospital is responsible for ensuring that there is compliance with all the standards of the trauma center. Below the CEO is the trauma medical director who is responsible for overseeing all the administrative issues of the trauma care. The trauma medical director is therefore responsible for ensuring that all the trauma standards are enforced and that the hospital works according to the requirements. The hospital has many pediatric and trauma surgeons as well as emergency physicians who are in charge of any emergency or trauma cases that may be reported at the hospital. Nurses and other physicians are all available to provide nursing services to the patients who have been brought to the hospital.
The mission statement of the hospital is to improve the quality of life for all those who visit the hospital through excellence in the patients care, education, and research and community service. The vision of the hospital is to create the best possible environment for the patients to heal, physicians to practice and employees to work to the best of their abilities. The daily operations of the organization are guided by the vision and mission statement of the organization. The services offered by the staff of the hospital are always aimed at improving the quality of life for the patents who visit the hospital for medical attention so that their quality of life can be enhanced. As a result, the organization also provides education and conducts research that is crucial to improving the quality of care of the organization as stated in the mission statement of the organization. The operations of the hospital are also focused on the creation of the best and conducive environment for the patients to heal while at the same time making employees and physicians have a conducive working environment that can improve their productivity.
Factors Impacting Upon Management/Practice at the Organization
Various factors impact the management of the chosen Trauma Center hospital. These factors include fiscal resources, technology, staffing, institutional policies and the federal legislative issues. Managing the financial resources of any healthcare organization is essential to the success of that organization. The management of financial resources requires exceptional skills, and therefore the management must have the knowledge needed to handle that particular task. In any industry, the management of the fiscal resources involves handling of routine financial operations. A healthcare facility requires the use of financial resources to ensure there is an efficient provision of services. The provision of quality care needs the availability of specific resources, including the human resource. The management must, therefore, make the right financial decision that will ensure the little available resources are appropriately managed to improve the efficiency of the hospital. Another area of financial management that can impact the management is on making the decision to purchase new medical equipment which is intended in the expanding regions of coverage. The right financial decision is therefore essential if the management is to achieve any substantial growth and improvement in its services.
Another aspect that can impact the management of the hospital is technology. Technology has rapidly grown in the past few years, and almost every organization is in the run to adopt the new technology. To remain competitive, organizations have to change with the changes that are happening in the technology. Healthcare organizations are also transforming into healthcare technology that will improve the entire experience for both the patients and the medical professionals. The management, therefore, has a challenge of having to introduce modern technology into the healthcare system so that the services can be improved. Trauma centers require highly developed technology in all areas including medical equipment that can provide efficient and quick treatment for the patients with severe injuries. The management of the trauma center has the task of implementing the right technology that will improve the care of the organization. The various technological innovations that the administration should consider implementing include the big data information, electronic medical records, telemedicine and medical mobile apps. The implementation of these technological innovations can help promote operations efficiency, easier collaboration, and reduced costs.
Staffing is another area that can impact the management of the organization. Making the right staffing decision can always be a big challenge to the leadership of any healthcare. At some points, the financial performance of the hospital may be declining to force the management to restructure and re-engineer its operations. Some of the strategies that the management might consider doing are to reduce the size of its staff while at the same time ensuring that the quality if the services are not interrupted. However, this has been a big challenge for the Trauma center because while the management aims at minimizing the cost of operations, the mission of the hospital which is to provide better care services must always prevail. This means that the right staffing decision has to be made if the quality of the care services is to be maintained while at the same time considering the cost factors.
The policies of the institution also impact the leadership of the organization. The leader must always act and make decisions that are in line with the organization policies and procedures. For example, there are policies and guidelines on staff’s means of communication, dressing code, methods, and systems for reporting as well as how to interact with each other at the workplace. Even as the nurse leader provides leadership to the junior members of the organization, he must remain in adherence to the policies that the organization has put in place. At the same time, the federal legislation also impacts the kind of leadership that the manager provides to the organization. There is federal legislation that determines what is expected of every healthcare organization and the manager must, therefore, ensure that these laws are followed.
Challenges, Change, Conflict, and Coping Strategies
The nursing profession has appropriate and consistent actions with the agenda within the healthcare setting. The nursing profession and individual nurses, as well as other healthcare professionals, need to take the necessary steps and actions to improve the medication safety for the patients ( Brown , et al., 2017). This can be done by the healthcare professionals being aware of the kind of medication that the patients are taking before making a further prescription. The correct and safe medication for the patients is essential in ensuring that the health of these patients is improved and to protect them from any harm. Another agenda that is consistent with the nursing profession is nursing advocacy. Nurses should be advocates for their patients at their workplaces as well as in the community by making their voice be heard in an attempt to ensure that patients receive the best healthcare services. Effective advocacy is a critical pillar in the nursing profession. Promoting patients safety is another crucial area that nurses should get involved. This can be done by ensuring that the healthcare setting is safe and conducive to facilitate the healing process of the nurses. At the same time, the nursing profession advocates for the need to respect and protect the rights of the patients at all time. Nurses should, therefore, ensure that patients are given a respectful treatment and that their rights are respected while they receive healthcare services.
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), quality issues are one of the main challenges that affect the healthcare organizations in the United States is safety ( Fitzpatrick & Ellingsen , 2013). Surveys have shown that even though the U.S. has made significant steps in providing quality healthcare for the citizens, many preventable deaths are still reported. These have been associated with issues such as a medical error that occur at the healthcare facilities. These medical errors usually occur due to too much working load for the nurses causing fatigue. To correct the issue of patients’ safety from the medical errors, it is appropriate that the federal, state and the private sector organizations should work together and come up with ways of promoting patients safety. Given that too much working load for the nurses have been mentioned as one of the causes of patients’ safety risk, proper staffing can also be considered to ensure that nurses do not work for long hours. Another solution for preventing medical errors and improving patients’ safety is through promoting teamwork amongst the healthcare professionals (Murray, 2017). Working together as a team can provide useful experience for the healthcare professionals and help them minimize the chances of errors. Team building is therefore essential strategy for eliminating patients’ safety.
Ethical issues within the healthcare profession are another challenge that has been affecting the healthcare service organizations. There have been many reports of ethical violations by the healthcare professionals thus risking the lives of individuals. Examples of ethical breaches that currently affect a number of healthcare organizations include sexual misconduct, violation of the patients’ rights and privacy as well as issuing wrong medication. Such abuses have been a drawback to the efforts that have been made to ensure that the quality of the healthcare services is improved. To minimize ethical issues, healthcare organization must ensure that all the healthcare professionals adhere to the acceptable code of conduct of the profession and any misconduct to receive an appropriate action.
Technological advancement is also an emerging trend in the healthcare setting that has been posing a significant challenge to the healthcare sector. Rapidly growing technology, especially within the medical field, has prompted the need to have healthcare sector adapt to this new technology to enable them to improve the quality of the healthcare services. The primary challenge is the fact that technology comes with new demands. For example, it will require the healthcare managers to offer further training to the employees on how to use specific technological innovations and this calls for the need to use more financial resources. The best strategy to solve the issue of technology is to incorporate technology in the nurse training institutions so that they come out fully equipped with the skills on how to apply new technological advancement.
Attributes of Nurse Leader
The nurse leader I interacted with is Dr. Michelle Mathews. Mathews is a nurse leader, a healthcare professional, an educator and published researcher . A nurse leader needs to have emotional intelligence. Having emotional intelligence is essential in helping the nurse leader lead and coordinate with other nurses for the better service delivery. This attribute is also critical in assisting the nurse in leader support the junior nurses cope with the stressors that might be present during the time of significant challenges in the profession. Dr. Michelle Mathews has the ability to control his emotions and knows how to cooperate with other nurses thus improving understanding amongst them. Another attribute of the nurse leader is the critical thinking and decision-making skills. Nursing profession requires an individual who can always be quick to think and make rational decisions. Dr. Michelle Mathews can identify problems and implement plans and appropriate means to solve these problems. These responsibilities require an individual with the ability to analyze the problem, see the bigger picture and devise an appropriate solution. According to Porter-O’ Grady, critical thinking and decision making is a key feature that nurse leaders must have if they are to provide an effective leader for the organization.
An excellent communication skill is an essential attribute for the nurse leaders. The nurse leader has excellent communication skills which enhances understanding between her and the other nurses whom she leads. According to the Porter-O’ Grady theory, the existence of a multidisciplinary treatment environment significantly increases the importance of having collaboration in the healthcare setting ( Fitzpatrick & Ellingsen , 2013). Appropriate partnership requires a nurse leader to effectively communicate and engage other medical professionals as well as the support staff so that everything goes on as planned. Lack of proper communication from the nurse leader can be a challenge in an attempt to improve the quality of the care setting due to misunderstandings that may arise.
A nurse leader should also have the ability and an attitude of mentorship. The nurse leader deploys specific strategies aimed at mentoring nurse trainees and other junior nurses in their profession. According to the American Nursing Association (ANA), a nursing leader should have the ability to provide mentorship and, the motivation for the other nurses so that their experience and performance in the job is increased.
The effectiveness of Nurse Manager
The nurse manager, Dr. Mathews, is an effective leader because she inspires the team and led others by example. An effective nurse manager will always inspire team members and motivate them to work towards the goal of the organization while at the same time leading by example ( Fitzpatrick & Ellingsen , 2013). For example, the manager leads by doing and not by just commanding others to do. The manager is also effective because she is a good listener to the team members. An effective nurse leader listens and understands from each of the people she leads before making any comment. Another aspect that makes the leader effective is being strong, stable and compassionate. The ability to jump in and assist when the shift gets busy as well as having the feeling of compassionate makes the nurse leader effective. The manager acts and treats everyone with respect rather than acting as a manager. Unless one is told that she is the manager, it gets hard to know because they are involved in the work just like other team members.
Conclusion
Nurse leaders play a key role in motivating and influencing other team members to work towards the goal of the organization. To become a good nurse leader, one requires to have certain attributes which are essential for leading other team members. The ability to motivate, to lead by example and to mentor other nurse trainees is a significant feature that nurse leaders need to have if they are to keep other staff members satisfied with the work.
References
Brown, D., Edwards, H., Seaton, L., & Buckley, T. (2017). Lewis's Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Fitzpatrick, G., & Ellingsen, G. (2013). A review of 25 years of CSCW research in healthcare: contributions, challenges and future agendas. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) , 22 (4-6), 609-665.
Murray, Elizabeth (2017). Nursing Leadership and Management: For Patients Safety and Quality Care.
