The role of the nurse leaders, in a health care setting, cannot be ignored, as they are expected to be on the forefront towards improving the quality of health care services that are accorded to individual patients. Nurse leaders also play a critical role towards in setting the strategic direction that the staff is expected to work towards as a way of improving overall outcomes in the quality of care services offered (Lunden, Teräs, Kvist, & Häggman‐Laitila, 2017). Additionally, nurse leaders also help in the management of budgets, training and communication, among other vital factors that define success in nursing. It is from this perspective that this report seeks to examine the role of a nurse leader from multiple angles in trying to undertake the actions that a leader would be expected to take. The report will evaluate the role of a nurse leader from the viewpoint of communication, training, budget, change management, and authority.
Communication
One of the critical areas of consideration towards defining the effectiveness of a nurse leader is communication. Firstly, a nurse leader should always foster openness in connection by establishing a unit-wide collaboration approach. The expectation of having to foster open communication is that this will help ensure that other nurses understand the importance of communication as a critical factor defining their performance projections (Ryan, Harris, Mattox, Singh, Camp, & Shirey, 2015). Secondly, a nurse leader would be able to advance communication by promoting effective conflict management. Conflicts are a likely outcome in the health care environment, which may affect the relationships that nurses may develop with each other. As a nurse leader, one is expected to come up with a proactive approach through which to manage the conflicts with the focus being towards promoting communication between nurses.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Training
Training and development of nurses are essential, as it creates a front through which to ensure that the nurses remain effective in their activities as part of the health care environment. Nurse leaders have a crucial role in fostering training as part of their leadership structure towards improving the quality of care offered to individual patients (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016). The first action that a nurse leader is expected to take involves having to link with the management for purposes of organizing training programs for nurses. Nurses will be expected to attend these programs in seeking to ensure that they learn new approaches allowing them to remain effective in their positions as nurses. The second action that a nurse may take revolves around encouraging nurses to follow up on their education, which will be of great value towards providing them with new skills that they would be expected apply as part of their health service delivery.
Budget
The role of the nurse leader, as it relates to budgeting, can accurately be seen in the process of planning based on the budgetary allocations. A nurse leader is expected to make all necessary plans on how budgets would be utilized with the aim being towards ensuring that health institution can achieve it's set out goals and objectives (Ryan, Harris, Mattox, Singh, Camp, & Shirey, 2015). Another critical action that is expected of the nurse leader concerning budgeting is monitoring of the budget to make sure that it is utilized in a manner that meets the expected objectives. If corrective measures are to be undertaken, it is within the expectations of the nurse leader to provide recommendations of the measures to the management for proper actions.
Change Management
From all perspectives, a nurse leader is expected to serve as an agent of change. The expectation is that the nurse leader would influence other nurses towards embracing change as it relates to service delivery. The intention is having to create a standard through which individual nurses would be able to access the difference as part of their standard approaches through which to define efficiency in their capacities to deliver the best quality of care. On the other hand, the nurse leader is also expected to engage individual nurses in seeking to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the change in a bid to reducing cases of change resistance. As a nurse leader, one is expected to help alleviate some of the fears that the nurses may have concerning the perceived threat associated with the changes (Bryant‐Lukosius et al., 2016).
Authority
The role of the nurse leader is to define the authority within the health care setting, as this would serve as a critical factor that improves the influence associated with leadership from top-level management. Nurse leaders are expected to serve as an extension of the high-level management while seeking to ensure that they establish a clear front through which to advocate for the expectations of the management (Lunden, Teräs, Kvist, & Häggman‐Laitila, 2017). In this regard, it is clear that the nurse leaders would find themselves in a position that reflects on the best possible outcomes of the health facility, especially in seeking to create a front for advanced success. From an authority perspective, what is clear is that nurse leaders are expected to play an essential role in defining the different aspects associated with the quality of care being offered.
References
Bryant‐Lukosius, D., Spichiger, E., Martin, J., Stoll, H., Kellerhals, S. D., Fliedner, M., ... & Schwendimann, R. (2016). Framework for evaluating the impact of advanced practice nursing roles. Journal of Nursing Scholarship , 48 (2), 201-209.
Lunden, A., Teräs, M., Kvist, T., & Häggman‐Laitila, A. (2017). A systematic review of factors influencing knowledge management and the nurse leaders’ role. Journal of nursing management , 25 (6), 407-420.
Ryan, R. W., Harris, K. K., Mattox, L., Singh, O., Camp, M., & Shirey, M. R. (2015). Nursing leader collaboration to drive quality improvement and implementation science. Nursing administration quarterly , 39 (3), 229-238.