Nursing leadership involves critical thinking, advocacy, and action. Leadership plays a significant role in the lives of nurses and the entire healthcare system. As a profession, nurses take a patient- centered approach to service delivery. Often, nurses are on the frontline in taking care of the patients hence, playing a vital role in responding to the changes in the health status of a patient. An efficient nurse leader has distinct qualities such as courage, and ability to handle stress. Excellent leaders do more than directing, dictating or delegating duties. They focus on helping others to achieve their potentials.
Leadership in nursing has generated a lot of research and theories. Successful companies and organizations use self-awareness and social awareness to develop the emotional intelligence of their leaders. As a result, theories have emerged that govern the field of nursing leadership. They include behavioral theory, role theory, and trait theory among others. According to behavioral theory, leaders are not born but made. Anyone can be a leader. Behavioral approach has opened leadership opportunities to many registered nurses. Role theory focuses on assumptions that individuals make. For instance, they define roles based on learning and reading. They also create expectations depending on the roles they play. In the nursing profession, modeling, culture, training and values determine the expectations and behavior. A role conflict appears when expectations fail to match with action. Finally, trait theory talks of individuals born with traits that are suited for leadership. It assumes that good leaders possess sufficient qualities (Huber, 2005, p. 36). According to this theory, when a leader is under pressure, one should stay calm. They should also learn to admit mistakes instead of covering them and finally, be broadminded.
Nurses require tough leadership skills to contribute to the patient quality care and welfare of the society as a whole. They do much more than to look after the patients. They advocate for healthcare awareness through organizing seminars and forums that educate the public on the healthy living issue. As a result, they help in the improvement of the financial standards of the society promoting the economy of the community. Nurses are also involved in innovation. For example, Florence Nightingale, the founder of the modern nursing, found out that poor sanitation leads to infections.
Quality in nursing care can be examined by adopting an implementation plan that will help in translating evidence into practice. The effect of evidence-based practice is seen across sciences, nursing practice and education (Marquis & Huston, 2006, p. 17). EBP in nursing practice advocates for efficient and safe delivery services to patients. EBD consists of the integration of an approach for problem solving in the nursing profession. It is done by considering evidence from studies, the patient’s information, clinical expertise and experience and the preferred values. Nevertheless, translating evidence can be done through focusing on the systems instead of individual patients. A registered nurse can also create support for the work by promoting the adaptation of the intervention (Porter-O'Grady & Malloch, 2013, p. 53).
Finally, it is evident that leadership is not a function of management only but also an organ in the nursing career. It is also logical to say that nursing leadership should start at early stages especially during training. Nursing leadership should focus on principles such as committing excellence and creating other leaders through building a culture around the career and emphasizing on employees satisfaction.
References
Huber, D. (2005). Leadership and nursing care management. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2006). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2013). Leadership in nursing practice: Changing the landscape of healthcare. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
