Introduction
The work of providing care to the people demands a lot from the individual profession but the presence of good supervision assists healthcare organizational managers get best results from their staff. The presence of a high-quality supervision in the workplace ensures job satisfaction and makes employees more committed to their duties; hence, promoting high job retention rates. The practice of nursing is relationship-based, and leaders should demonstrate supervision behavior that promote closes the gap between the supervisor and followers. An effective healthcare supervisor must possess numerous characters including effective communication, proper listening skills, and positively criticize employees (McConnell 251-252). The following paper researches on qualities of an effective healthcare supervisor by focusing on delegation of duties as part of the management roles.
Effective healthcare supervision
The clinical supervision enables the staff to reflect and review their practice, discuss individual strengths and weaknesses, and change their practice (Care Quality Commission 3-4). Supervisors in the healthcare industry have some tasks and duties they delegate to the staff on daily basis. Clinical staff should always demonstrate good conducts irrespective of their involvement in healthcare tasks.
The healthcare organization follows rules just like any other organization. Rules are not created to benefiting the organization or giving the management a chance to mistreat employees, but they exist for good reasons. Organizational rules develop a pattern of behavior that employees must observe and practice. Additionally, rules are made according to the rights and needs of the majority stakeholders. Any staff member breaking organizational rules goes against the wishes of the majority. Every employee must be aware of rules governing the operation of the organization, and the supervisor holds fewer responsibilities reminding the staff of their duties. However, the supervisor has the right to criticize employees breaking organizations rules and discipline those practicing unethical and unwanted behaviors (McConnell 252).
Criticism in healthcare supervision roles
A supervisor may find it necessary to criticize an employee based on their conduct while performing duties in the practice of nursing. Additionally, experts in supervision positions find it natural to criticize an employee to achieve some attention or get to a target in job performance. Criticism occurs when the work of an employee is unexpected and fails to follow the rules of the organization. Under certain circumstances, healthcare employees demonstrate disruptive behaviors that question their eligibility in the practice. The supervisor has a big role to play in ensuring these employees understand the importance of conduct in the practice of nursing. The delegation of duties to the staff becomes a challenge because the employee's behavior threatens the performance of other team members and influences the healthcare outcome (McConnell 253).
McConnell describes six main steps of taking criticism while performing supervision roles towards a healthcare profession. First, the supervisor should hold his or her temper whenever a member of the staff demonstrates a disruptive behavior. An effective supervisor follows the protocol while addressing a problem and never jumps to conclusion. Second, the supervisor should listen to the employee's side of the story. Having an open mind assists in developing a constructive criticism. Moreover, the supervisor should consider the source of the problem. Healthcare employees have a set of ethics and standards that guide their practice and engaging in unacceptable behavior in the workplace demonstrates high levels of responsiveness. However, the supervisor should determine the source of the problem before concluding on the employee's fate. Analyzing sources involve understanding the individual credentials, determining the motives for performing an act, and establishing the weight of comments towards the behavior. The criticism should try to discover if the employee has something important to the organization (McConnell 254).
McConnell advice supervisor to evaluate the criticism effectively and make the other party understand it is meant to improve the standard of the practice. Criticism is a common tool in the delegation of duties and supervisors should use it all the time to assist employees to understand their mistakes. The manager should understand characters of different employees receiving delegated duties in the healthcare organization. Understanding behaviors of individual employees help the supervisor conduct the criticism effectively and avoid hurting the person either psychologically or emotionally. The Employee Assistance Service conducts a confidential counseling to employees and staff suffering from work-related difficulties. The service also offers advises to managers on how to deal with employee issue and offers a formal, structured support to employees experiencing stress because of the presence of critical incidences in the Workplace (Health Service Executives 9). The service plays a critical role in assisting supervisors engage in constructive criticism and makes employees take up the criticism positively.
Role of discipline in healthcare workers supervision
When delegating health care duties to the staff, the supervisor should demonstrate high levels of discipline. Managers must have high levels of discipline because they act an example to the other members of the staff. Employees used to undergo discipline classes in the past but presently the staff faces discipline lessons as a punishment. However, McConnell () urged supervisors not to integrate problems of performance with problems of conduct in the workplace. A supervisor should not impose rules and regulations on the staff in the process of delegating duties to achieve accepted performance. Employees ought to get an opportunity to analyze their conduct and establish effective practices that promote performance rather than engaging them in different forms of punishment. Effective healthcare supervision entails making a follow-up of duties of these professionals and criticizing their modes of operations with a positive attitude (McConnell 251).
On the other hand, clinical supervision targets registered professionals such as Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), and Nurse Practitioners (NP). Healthcare supervisors must follow Nurse Practice Acts (NPA) governing the level and type of tasks delegated to a specific nurse professional. Registered healthcare providers have clear and updated policies describing elements of supervision and their relevance implementation and delivery goals. The supervisor must ensure every role delegated to a nurse adheres to the NPA rules and promotes the conduct of the practice. A supervisor has the duty of dispensing disciplinary actions to any staff failing to follow the duties through oral warning, individual counseling, written warning, suspension (in case the issue goes beyond the expected conduct), and discharge of professional duties (McConnell 194).
Rules of fair and effective discipline
When performing disciplinary actions to the staff, the supervisor should observe some rules. The supervisor should be reasonable, avoid using other employees as an example, follow clinical rules, and avoid favoring some employees. Additionally, the supervisor should have evidence of misconduct before engaging in any disciplinary action, and avoid revisiting work history of the employee. The supervisor should remember to document every disciplinary action for record keeping and future reference should the employee introduce claims (McConnell 264).
Recommended approaches
On the other hand, the supervisor may engage in behavioral contracting. Behavioral contracting involves a process of encouraging employees to change their attitudes towards health care tasks. The management and the staff agree upon changes that the organization should implement to promote acceptable behaviors. However, the recommendation only works with high-level employees like professional staff members in the organization including physicians, surgeons, and doctors. On the other hand, the supervisor may engage in coaching roles. Coaching employees assist in eliminating a trouble before it begins. McConnell gives a possibility of stopping and controlling problems of employees' conduct and cases of unacceptable performances in the workplace. The most effective approaches towards practicing coaching roles involve taking up disciplinary actions to problematic employees (McConnell 266-267).
Conclusion
Only a supervisor nurse executes the right kind of supervision in the healthcare setting. Leaders in different department undertake different supervisory roles and delegate different tasks to the members of the department. Health care management rules play an essential role in guiding individual professionals towards performing right duties and avoiding situations that question their conduct. The supervisor has the authority to criticize the employee or take up disciplinary actions when their behaviors go against the expectations of the practice. However, the supervisor should always strive to maintain a good interpersonal relationship with the staff and avoid conflicts. The research recommends two approaches to create a good workplace environment free from employee complaints and dramas. The recommended approaches are behavioral contracting and employee coaching. Health care management should ensure supervisors at different levels follow acceptable approaches towards improving the conduct and performance of healthcare employees.
References
Care Quality Commission. Supporting information and guidance: Supporting effective clinical
supervision. 2013, July. [Accessed: March 31, 2016]
Health Service Executive. “Employee Handbook.” HR Leadership, Education & Development.
March 2014.
McConnell, Charles R. The Health Care Manager's Human Resources Handbook. Burlington,
Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013. Print.
McConnell, Charles, R. Effective health care supervisor (8th Ed.). Burlington, BA: Jones &
Bartlett Learning. 2015. Print.
