Theme
Effective communication, problem solving, and critical thinking are three soft skills essentially vital for a staff nurse supervisor to carry out her HR activities in a current day hospital setting.
Introduction
Nursing care has traditionally been an integral constituent of health care because nurses play an indispensable role in enhancing care quality and patient safety. As a result, today healthcare regulators take strong efforts to enhance the quality of nursing care in health organizations. Such efforts to enhance nursing care efficiency are notably limited by staff shortage and staff turnover issues. The situation further leads to a poor nurse-to-patient ratio. Evidences suggest that poor nurse-to-patient ratio in the healthcare environment is the primary cause leading to poor quality patient care and medical negligence issues (Reader & Gillespie, 2013). In this context, it is vital for nursing care managers to take thoughtful steps to improve nurse-to-patient ratio and nurse-patient interactions in the care environment. Studies indicate that the way a staff nurse interacts with the patient can significantly influence the patient’s mental health and his/her response to treatment (Loghmani, Borhani & Abbaszadeh, 2014).Hence, it is important to note that making regular check-ups, providing medication timely, and monitoring for vital signs would not simply constitute nursing care. A nurse is expected to deliver more to patients because medication is only a part of the treatment. At this juncture, staff nurse supervisors have a crucial role to play in developing the workforce in such a way to meet the needs of patients in a comprehensive manner. For this, it is better for staff nurse supervisors to arrange workshop programs periodically to keep the nurses informed of changing trends in healthcare and to enhance their skills and abilities in terms of care quality and patient care. Undoubtedly, such workshop programs can really benefit staff nurse supervisors to develop a set of crucial soft skills and to improve the overall efficiency of the health organization. This paper will develop a workshop programme for a staff nurse supervisor in a hospital focusing particularly on three soft skills such as effective communication, problem solving, and critical thinking.
Appraisal of three soft skills
For a staff nurse supervisor, the chosen soft skills such as effective communication, problem solving, and critical thinking are inevitably essential to deal with strategic human resource management effectively. First, effective communication must be a prime soft skill of a nursing supervisor so as to unite the efforts of nursing staff and to facilitate the smooth operations of the care environment (Vertino, 2014). It is clear that better communication between the nurse supervisor and the nurse staff are inevitable to achieve the goals and objectives of the department. The nurse supervisor can motivate her followers and create a spirit of teamwork only if she is able to communicate properly to them. In addition, effective communication skill is essential for a nurse supervisor to resolve worksite conflicts, which are likely to ruin the quality of nursing care delivery (Hiemer, n.d.). Another significance of effective communication is that the nurse supervisor needs to identify and respond to work stressors that persuade nurses to leave their career. The nurse supervisor can address nurses’ complaints regarding work distribution, work shifts, and other worksite matters only if she maintains improved communication skills. In short, effective communication skill is inevitable for a nurse supervisor to manage her followers effectively and to direct their shared efforts towards the accomplishment of the organization’s strategic goals and objectives.
Similarly, a nurse supervisor can excel at her strategic human resource management operations if she is a great problem solver. The problem-solving approach to nursing is a notable development in the field of nursing over the last decade. A nurse supervisor must maintain great problem solving skills to cut down the overall cost of healthcare and to enhance the quality of care (Terzioglu, 2006). In a nursing care environment, conflicts between nurse staff for several reason may lead to a poor deliver of care and the situation in turn may adversely affect patient safety. The nurse supervisor will be able to resolve interpersonal conflicts between nurses and increase their productivity only if she has better problem solving skills. The first stage of problem solving is problem identification, which is accompanied by problem prioritisation and solution implementation. In a hospital care environment, disputes associated with work allocation and duty changeover are very common among the nurse staff. In order to address those HR related problems, the nurse supervisor should develop greater problem solving skills. In short, problem solving skills are necessary for a nurse supervisor to ensure improved organizational productivity and patient outcomes.
Finally, the ability of critical thinking is inevitable for modern nurse managers to address different problematic scenarios effectively and to improve their strategic human resource management capabilities (Traynor, 2013, p.23). Unlike common belief, a nurse manager’s position based on her expertise in clinical roles alone would not assist her to perform her duties and responsibilities effectively unless she demonstrates adequate expertise in managerial and leadership skills. Critical thinking skills are crucial for a nurse supervisor to perform her roles as a manager and leader efficiently. “Critical thinking can have a powerful influence on the decision making and problem solving that nurse managers are faced with on a daily basis” (Zori & Morrison, 2009). Scholars suggest that critical thinking skills can greatly assist nurse managers to perform their roles relating to analysis, intervention, and deductive and inductive reasoning more effectively. It is identified that a nurse supervisor with greater critical thinking skills can promote positive transformations in healthcare. Thoughtful application of critical thinking skills in alignment with education and support programs can really benefit nurse managers to gain significant achievements in their position. Furthermore, critical thinking skills are vital for a nurse supervisor to promote the concept of proactive care, and this can minimize patient suffering and prevent unintended health consequences.
Alignment with mission, vision, and strategic plan
The organization’s mission is “to improve the health of people they serve and mange illness by providing tertiary- level state- of –the- art health care with maximum efficiency, effectiveness, patient satisfaction and safety”. In other words, the health organization strives to improve the health of people and to meet patient satisfaction by increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. The three choices of soft skills including effective communication, problem solving, and critical thinking are vital to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of nurse practitioners and thereby achieve enhanced patient outcomes leading to patient satisfaction. To make it clear, effective communication between nurse staff supervisors and nurse practitioners would enhance the quality of their teamwork, which is a crucial factor influencing the patient outcomes in a nursing care environment (Seago, 2008). In addition, effective communication in the department may be beneficial to meet different health needs of patients timely and effectively. Similarly, nurse managers’ ability to solve problems in the worksite environment can significantly enhance final patient outcomes. To illustrate, a nurse manager with great problem solving skills would be able to keep her followers relaxed and motivated, and such a healthy workplace environment can eliminate chances of medical errors or other unwanted health outcomes. Finally, the strength of critical thinking skills can assist a nurse manager to explore innovative ways that may add increased values to care quality and patient satisfaction (Papathanasiou, Kleisiaris, Fradelos, Kakou & Kourkouta, 2014).
Similarly, this health institution’s vision statement is “to be a centre of excellence delivering best quality healthcare services by a motivated and highly committed workforce, and providing clinical training to under graduate and post graduate medical, nursing and paramedical students”. It appears that the three choice of soft skills such as effective communication, problem solving, and critical thinking are in alignment with the organization’s vision too. As mentioned already, effective upward and downward flow of communication in the nursing department is vital to delivery best quality healthcare services to patients. Likewise, a nurse staff supervisor with quality problem making skills can play a notable role in resolving worksite conflicts quickly and efficiently and thereby maintaining a highly committed workforce. It is an undisputed fact that a committed workforce is essential for a healthcare organization to become a centre of excellence because it is commonly rated on the basis of service quality. Finally, critical thinking skills are vital for a nurse manager to identify how and when clinical training should be provided to the nurse staff so as to enhance their skills and abilities (Chan, 2013).
Learning objectives
While developing the workshop for the staff nurse supervisors, there must be some specific learning objectives for each of the three topics (soft skills) selected. Development and recognition of learning objectives are vital for nurse managers to identify the significance of attaining those soft skills so as to excel at their strategic human resource management activities.
Relating to effective communication, the first learning objective is to identify how efficiently upward and downward communication in the nursing care environment would contribute to greater quality of nursing care delivery. This knowledge would persuade nurse managers to develop effective communication skills and to increase the value of patient care. The second learning objective is to understand the significance of effective communication in a culturally diverse nursing care environment. This learning can really benefit nurses to create a great understanding of the role of effective communication in promoting culturally competent nursing care practices. The third learning objective is to recognise the ways to develop effective communication skills in staff nurse supervisors so that they can manage their followers very productively. Identifying the flaws with the current communication practices is another learning objective of this workshop programme.
There are some crucial learning objectives for the topic of problem solving too. In the current healthcare environment, a nurse manager needs to face numerous decision making situations a day. Hence, the first learning objective is to convince nurse managers about the importance of problem solving skills in enhancing workplace collaboration. The second objective is to provide nurse managers a detailed view of the various nursing scenarios where improved problem solving skills are vital to take advantages of the situation. It is obvious that this knowledge can help nurse managers to be more effective at identifying and responding to different worksite dilemmas appreciably. The third learning objective related to problem solving is to enlighten nurse managers about the factors to be considered while dealing with a problematic work/organizational scenario. The major objective of this learning outcome is to make sure that nurse managers do not take biased decisions in response to a problematic scenario. This practice is beneficial for the organization to promote decision making practices paying attention to the concerns of all stakeholders involved. The final learning objective is to identify best problem solvers in the organization and thereby to promote them to key positions in the management hierarchy.
A number of learning outcomes have been identified with respect to critical thinking too. The first learning objective is to spread an awareness of critical thinking, which is relatively a new concept in the nursing care environment. This practice is inevitable for nurse managers to identify their roles with regard to critical thinking in a nursing care context. The second learning outcome is to enlighten nurse managers how critical thinking is linked to the process of innovation and how this inextricable relationship benefits the industry as a whole. Evidently, such awareness workshops will bring groundbreaking innovations in the nursing sector and improve the industry practices. The third learning objective is to identify and train individuals who have the potential to think critically and come up with innovative ideas/solutions to address a particular problem. Undoubtedly, this approach would benefit the organisation in the long-term because critical thinking is recognised to be a crucial factor affecting the success of modern organisations.
Conclusion
References
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