Personal and professional accountability
In regards to my personal and professional responsibility, I consider myself to be competent based on the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory because I have just worked as a registered nurse for few years. However, I have a high aspiration of ensuring that I become an expert in the field of nursing, I plan to achieve this by progressing my education to highest levels attainable within the nursing profession. I subscribe to the school of thought that self-fulfillment comes about when one achieves whatever goals he/she has set for himself/herself. Pursuing higher education will, therefore, help me achieve my career satisfaction. Furthermore, advancing and continuing my education is a tool I intend to use for my career planning besides aligning it to my wishes. I believe that my character of somebody who likes doing things correctly and accurately as a strength regarding my professional accountability in nursing. This trait helps me a lot whenever I interact with patients during my work shifts; it drives me to deliver quality patient care that exceeds what is expected of me as a registered nurse. I always believe in excellence and so whatever I set my hands on must deliver nothing but the best. However, this character may sometimes appear as a weakness because my purist personality makes me spend more time on a particular given task hence may force me to take a longer time to complete all tasks assigned to me, this might be problematic considering the large workload facing nurses due to shortage which has been persistent.
Regarding the second dimension on the skills inventory, that is ethical behavior and practice; I rate myself as an expert. My personality is defined by the utilitarian moral theory; this is because I have always had a strong belief that any action taken by nurses in their care for patients should always have the aim of bringing out the best that benefits many people i.e. patients, their families and adhering to organizational set rules and regulations. Guided by the utilitarian theory, my actions have always been aimed at improving the wellbeing of others (Burkhardt, & Nathaniel, 2013). I therefore always seek to provide patient care that is satisfactory. I also take professional association issues seriously because of the many benefits I stand to gain from being a member, as such; I started joining professional organizations while still in college. I was a member of the National Students Nurses Association (NSNA). At the moment as a registered nurse and a unit leader in my department, I am a member of the most vibrant nurses union in the United States known as American Nurses Association (ANA). My membership to ANA is of great help to me; I usually subscribe to policy papers and several publications from the Association on various nursing practices. These articles have made me aware of the main issues affecting nursing, as I prepare for the position of a nurse manager in the future, I am well informed on the challenges that I am likely to face and how to solve them. Lastly, I have achieved certification and licensure from all relevant nursing bodies and organizations as stipulated by federal and State laws and regulations. This has enabled me to undertake my nursing roles without any restrictions or constraints.
Career planning
Taking into account the fact that I have practiced nursing for several years, I rate my skills in career planning as that of an expert. At the moment, I am well versed with what is expected of me concerning nursing job requirements. Moreover, I am a quick learner and as an ANA member, I have had the privilege of attending many nursing seminars and workshops. As a result, I have learned more on the trends in nursing career from such workshops (Sanford, 2012). My primary goal regarding career growth and development is to be a nurse manager in the future, to realize this goal I will need to continue advancing my education. For career path development, I plan to position myself for this post by taking short courses and training in financial management, human resources management, strategic management, information technology and clinical practice. Since I easily adapt to changes, I will not have difficulties adjusting to the future anticipated changes in healthcare. This will help me cope with any challenges that may come my way in my professional journey.
Personal journey disciplines
On this particular dimension of leadership, I believe in distribution of tasks or responsibilities. As such, during different times when I have had an opportunity to serve in a unit or departmental leadership position in our organization, I always take an initiative to ensure that all staff members are given the chance to contribute their suggestions and opinions on ways of improving their welfare. This proves that I have good managerial skills since I encourage a shared leadership style. Such a skill is very useful for nurse managers especially in the formulation of policies, when all stakeholders are involved in the policy process, then its implementation will be easy (Storch, Makaroff, Pauly & Newton, 2013). As a future nurse manager, the skills I have so far gained in shared leadership will help me address work-related challenges that may arise. Furthermore, I believe that action learning is the most efficient learning process because it provides hands-on experience and skills on how to solve problems. It also provides room to reflect on the effects of certain actions, this way, best actions that bring better results are utilized in future. I consider myself competent in personal journey disciplines because I have knowledge and skills that are indispensable in the decision-making process.
Reflective practice references behaviors/tenets
For my reflective reference tenets, I believe in holding the truth, and I consider it to be one of my core principles, this is evident from how I work together with different people, ranging from my colleague nurses, nurse managers in various departments and patients whom I have interacted with frequently. I consider integrity to be one of the important qualities a true leader should possess. Secondly, I like diversity; therefore, I find myself most of the time associating with nurses from different backgrounds. I do not discriminate people based on their religious beliefs, cultural practices, race and ethnic backgrounds, interacting with people from diverse backgrounds has enhanced my leadership skills since I have a clear understanding of what different groups value and how it can be utilized for their wellbeing. I also believe in offering patient-centered care that puts the needs of the patients first and considers their ethnic, cultural and religious beliefs so as to avoid providing care that goes against their practices and beliefs. As a future aspiring nurse manager, I can use the information I have obtained from them to reduce or eliminate health disparities facing them. I also value knowledge and learning new things every day; this motivates me to do a lot of readings and interact with those I consider to be my mentors in the field of nursing.
Advocacy
In spite of me being a nurse unit leader, the leadership skills that I have so far gained as a result of being a leader in our department can adequately be used to advocate for change in a workplace environment or a hospital setting. The current leadership skills I have include sharing of responsibilities and reflective practice reference. As a nurse manager, I would, therefore, use these skills to advocate for changes in my workplace environment to encourage teamwork. Studies show that a well-coordinated patient care produces better patient outcome than care provided by individual nurses, I would, therefore, a champion for workplace policies that enhance teamwork (Storch, Makaroff, Pauly & Newton, 2013). I will also advocate for a work environment that is friendly and provides avenues through which nurses can provide their opinions and ideas, this encourages innovation and helps in achieving improved quality care.
Leadership goal
My personal goal for my leadership growth is to be a nurse manager in future. To achieve this goal, I must advance and continue my education. I plan to achieve my leadership goals by taking short courses and training in financial management, human resources management strategic management, information technology and clinical practice. I also intend to pursue my nursing course up to Masters and PhD levels. This will place me in a better position of being a knowledgeable leader that can effectively coordinate healthcare delivery.
References
Burkhardt, M., & Nathaniel, A. (2013). Ethics and issues in contemporary nursing. Cengage Learning.
Sanford, K. (2012). Overview and Summary: Nurse Advocates: Past, Present, and Future. Retrieved from http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-17-2012/No1-Jan-2012/Nurse-Advocates.pdf
Storch, J., Makaroff, K. S., Pauly, B., & Newton, L. (2013). Take me to my leader: The importance of ethical leadership among formal nurse leaders.Nursing ethics, 0969733012474291.
