Title: My Personal Leadership Analysis
Throughout the duration of this semester, I learned various important concepts that have molded me into a nurse with leadership qualities. These valuable qualities include: integrity, appreciation of ambiguity, appreciating diversity, holding multiple perspectives without judgement, discovery of potential, quest for adventure towards knowing, reflective learning, nurturing the intellectual and emotional self, and keeping commitments to oneself. In my career as a nurse, I strive to be a transformational leader. Transformational leadership has been identified as a type of leadership that can “foster attributes such as self-awareness or emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire others” (Spencer, 2018). Furthermore, transformational leaders “share a mindset and vision that guide the team to achieve their goals and mission” (Spencer, 2018). Throughout this analysis of my leadership qualities, I will discuss each one of the nine concepts that I learned during the semester and discuss how I will utilize these transformational leadership qualities in my nursing career.
Integrity
According to Webster’s dictionary, integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Honesty and strong moral principles are essential in the nursing profession because it directly improves patient outcomes. “The best nurse leaders focus on creating trust as an explicit objective through authentically truthful interactions.” (Sherman, 2017) As a newly licensed nurse, I have learned how important it is to be honest. For example, when I obtained my first nursing job, there were skills I did not know how to do such as wound vacs. As one of the few RN’s in the facility, ancillary staff have preconceptions that RN’s are supposed to know how to perform these skills already. The idea that we, as nurses, are supposed to know everything can lead to an enormous amount of pressure, which in turn can lead to dishonesty. When faced with a task I do not know how to complete, I report this to my supervisor and ask for a step-by-step demonstration. Not only is it important to be honest with myself, but I also have to be honest with my ancillary staff. When giving a report, I make sure to mention the fact that I am a new graduate nurse so everyone can be aware of my limited skill set. Though I may be viewed as incompetent, I believe being honest about my skill set promotes safer patient outcomes.
In addition to being honest, integrity includes having strong moral principles and firmly sticking to them, regardless of the situation at hand. “Your moral compass keeps you on a track that is congruent with your values, beliefs, and sense of purpose.” (Sherman, 2018) Nursing is a very demanding profession; physically, mentally and emotionally. The stress of nursing can lead to cutting corners and taking unsafe shortcuts to get the work done faster. For instance, many times at work we are short staff which leads to a lot of work piling up on one person. I have seen nurses take unsafe shortcuts such as not obtaining the blood pressure before giving a blood pressure medication, or not maintaining aseptic technique when doing a dressing change. Though cutting corners may seem appealing, my strong moral principles does not allow me to take unsafe shortcuts. I believe a good nurse does not bend their moral principles to get the work done faster.
Appreciation of Ambiguity
Ambiguity refers to feelings of uncertainty, doubtfulness, or a situation that is unclear because it can be understood in more than one way. Ambiguity in the nursing profession can be very scary and intimidating for a new nurse. However, it is important to appreciate ambiguity because we are always going to be faced with situations that may be unclear, cause doubtfulness and be interpreted in more than one way. Appreciating ambiguity can help us let go of feelings of knowing everything which in turn can cause us to feel incompetent. As a new nurse, every day I am faced with ambiguous situations. When faced with ambiguous feelings, I try to remember the steps of the nursing process to help me critically think. For example, when there is an acute change in a patient’s condition, I remember the first step of the nursing process is to assess. I look for alarming signs and symptoms that would warrant further intervention. To illustrate, a patient who had a tracheostomy was coughing a lot, as a new nurse the actions I took were taking his vital signs and provided PRN nebulizer treatment. Though I was not too familiar with tracheostomy’s I knew I needed to assess his vital signs for any signs of infection and provide nebulizer treatment to help him breath better. I appreciate feelings of ambiguity because it allows me to critically think to solve problems that arise in the nursing setting.
Diversity
The American Nurses Association defines diversity awareness as “acknowledgement and appreciation of differences in attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, and priorities in the health seeking behaviors of different patient populations.” Every day in nursing, we encounter patients of different races, cultures and it is important we acknowledge each patient as being different. Acknowledging each patient as being different promotes individualistic care. Showing appreciation for diversity can also help decrease health disparities in healthcare. I believe I will not have a problem with in cooperating diversity into my practice because I myself make up the 8% nonwhite nurses. Growing up with immigrant parents who did not speak English well, I always had to translate what my parents were saying to the healthcare professionals. I found it absurd that some healthcare professionals did not use simple phrases or provide material that would match their education level. Now that I am a nurse, when dealing with patients of different backgrounds, I ensure they understand the information being provided to them. I strive to provide culturally competent care to my patients and will continue to do so. “Providing healthcare to a diverse population extends beyond recognizing race and ethnicity to include the totality of beliefs, values, and experiences that shape the uniqueness of individuals.” (Diaz, Clarke & Gatua, 2015)
Accounting for Multiple Perspectives
Another valuable concept of nursing leadership includes accounting for multiple perspectives. Nursing is not a one-man job, it takes a team. Therefore, we should include multiple perspectives in our decision making. A transformational nurse “provides intellectual stimulation to team members, … and team members are not criticized for presenting ideas differing from the leaders.” (Dhaliwal & Hirst, 2018) Having the mentality that we know best, does not allow personal growth and it also hinders relationships. I do not think I will have much difficulty accomplishing this in my nursing career. I naturally like to hear what everyone thinks before making a decision. For example, when working with a difficult patient who is a fall risk and noncompliant, I like to ask my ancillary team what we can do today to promote safety for this patient. As a new nurse I am well aware that there are nurses that have years of experience. I like to ask for everyone’s input because it also provides me an opportunity of learning.
Discovery of Potential
To be able to look within one’s self and discover potential is a particularly difficult task, especially since you are your own biggest critic. As humans, we naturally overthink things and constantly question if we are in fact good enough to do what we set out to accomplish. What’s particularly daunting about starting a new career, especially one that that is new to your family, is the fact that you must battle your own fears alone. Specifically, I have always found it quite difficult to find or measure my own potential. After leaving high school, I was very unsure of what I wanted to do career-wise. All of my friends at the time seemed to have their future mapped out, except for me. There was always so much pressure on me to become something great because my parents are immigrants to this country and have invested their entire lives into me and my sibling’s futures. My parents have always stressed the importance of education, and so I always felt compelled to complete my education to the highest degree. The reason I chose nursing was because of my natural love for taking care of people. When I started nursing school it was very difficult, there were times when I was unsure of my success. However, after completing nursing school, I discovered the potential I have within me. Furthermore, the fact that I graduated from one of the hardest programs in my college (according to the office of academic advisement) made me realize that with pure perseverance, I can truly accomplish anything I dedicate myself to.
Quest for Knowledge
Nursing is a profession in which learning never stops. Throughout nursing school, I obtained a good amount of knowledge in order to operate as a healthcare professional. However, I was certain (and correct in my theory) that I would be undergoing the real learning once I was in the field.
The skill set that I received in nursing school allowed me to enter the nursing field and operate correctly. However, it is imperative for me to continue to stay up-to-date with evidence-based practice in order to promote safe patient outcomes. Since nursing is truly my passion, it is effortless for me to continue to research topics that I’m not familiar with; therefore, building my understanding, reasoning, and even my curiosity even more.
I understand that as a nurse, I have a personal responsibility to provide competent care to my patients. In order for me to do this successfully, I need to continue to strengthen my knowledge and understanding of procedures I perform in the field. For example, being a new nurse there are skills such as suctioning tracheostomy patients or giving feedings through peg tubes. After performing the procedures in the field and becoming familiar with the new skills, I make sure to go home and research these topics even further in order to provide competent care to my patients.
Another way I continue my quest for knowledge will continue is by furthering my education. Currently enrolled and chasing my BSN, I constantly expose myself to new information, research articles, and procedures. In addition to this, I take extra steps to cement this new information in my mind. For example, I like to discuss what I learn in class with my other, more experienced nursing friends because they often share their real-life experiences with me which helps me grasp the information better.
Experience and reflective thinking
“Reflective thinking is an active process valuable in learning and changing behaviors, perspectives, or practices.” (Black, 2017). Reflective thinking encourages nurses to have an ongoing commitment to “the ongoing process of continual and sustained self-awareness and development.” (Adamson, 2015) Not only does reflective thinking involve examining our own actions, but we should also strive to listen to other nurses’ stories to learn from their actions. Reflective thinking positively impacts nursing practice. Transformative nurses support reflective thinking because it allows opportunities to reflect on one another’s perspectives and have a greater understanding for one’s point of view.
After every shift of working, I always question what I could have done to better. Doing so allows me to reflect on the steps I took and the steps I should have taken. For example, one day the call bell rang, and I went to answer it, a patient had asked me to turn off the lights in the room because the light was hurting his eyes. I saw no problem in turning off the lights and thought it was a simple request. However, another patient in the same room was not happy with my action of turning off the light. The patient began to curse at me and threaten to kill me. As a new nurse, I did not know how to handle this type of aggressiveness. I kindly asked the patient to not curse at me and that statement made him angrier. Before I knew it the patient and I were going back and forth. When I reflected on my actions, I realized I should not have engaged in arguing with the patient and I should have walked away the minute he threatened to kill me. I did not realize the danger I was putting myself in by staying in the patient’s room by myself. Reflective thinking enables me to grow as an individual and nurse leader.
Nurturing the emotional self
Self -Care
As a nurse, it is important to in cooperate self -care into our lives. At times, nursing can become very demanding and it is important as nurses we take care of our mental, emotional and physical health. Continued stress leads to the hormone cortisol and adrenalin in the bloodstream. If this issue is not addressed, it can lead to various harmful conditions such as hyperglycemia and hypertension, or even some negative effects on the immune system. Selfcare is an extremely important factor in maintaining one’s personal health, the ability to care for patients, and even one’s growth in their profession. In addition to these excellent results, proper selfcare helps to increase one’s positivity in their workplace.
When I started my first nursing job in May, I learned the importance of taking care of my mental, emotional and physical health. Every day I went in to work very excited and eager to learn. However, this feeling quickly dwindled down due to the stress. At times, my job became very demanding, working short staff majority of the time would call for me to work doubles, work as a treatment nurse, supervisor and medication nurse all at the same time. My shifts were becoming longer than I would anticipate. At first, I was not taking care of myself, I would accept all the shifts offered to me because I did not know how to say no, I was becoming too tired to have a social life or to even engage in a relaxing activity such as exercise or watching television. When I realized I was burning out, I knew it was time for a change. Not only was my personal life lacking but I realized there was a decrease in the quality of caring for patients. I did not want to make a fatal medication mistake because I was too tired to perform adequately. To take care of myself, I decided to stop picking up extra shifts and used the time to part take in physical activities such as riding my bike or going to the gym. Self-care is important because in the end, if we do not take care of ourselves, we won’t be able to take care of patients safely and with quality. According to the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics, nurses owe the same duties to themselves as they do to their patients.
Conclusion
Leadership is a valuable trait regardless of the industry or individual. It’s a defining trait for an individual and immediately sets apart those who need no push, from those who do. Applying leadership skills to nursing results in the development of a sharp, prepared, and passionate healthcare professional; an individual who is an asset to others and not a liability or stumbling block for others. With that said, it is essential for nursing students to take the initiative and to continuously pursue more knowledge in their realm of expertise, if not for themselves, then for their patients. I truly believe that as a nurse, I have an obligation to be a leader in my environment; not to step on anyone’s toes (so to speak), but to be someone who can hold her own while also being able to lend a hand to my fellow nurses without needing instruction for every procedure I’m asked to assist with. In the same way a police officer should maintain superb physical strength and stamina in order to do his/her job efficiently, I believe I must maintain my leadership abilities in order to be the best nurse I can possibly be.
References
Adamson, E., & Dewar, B. (2015). Compassionate Care: Student nurses’ learning through reflection and the use of story. Nurse Education in Practice, 15(3), 155–161. https://doi-org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.1016/j.nepr.2014.08.002
Blum, C., (2014) “Practicing Self-Care for Nurses: A Nursing Program Initiative” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 19, No. 3, Manuscript 3.
Code of Ethics PDF. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only
Black, B (2019) “Critical Thinking, the Nursing Process, and Clinical Judgement.” Professional Nursing: Concepts & Challenges,
Dhaliwal, K. K., & Hirst, S. P. (2018). Correctional nursing and transformational leadership. Nursing Forum,54(2), 192-197. doi:10.1111/nuf.12314
Diaz, C., Clarke, P. N., & Gatua, M. W. (2015). Cultural Competence in Rural Nursing Education: Are We There Yet? Nursing Education Perspectives (National League for Nursing), 36(1), 22–26. https://doi-org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.5480/12-1066.1
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Sherman, R. O. (2018). Finding Your True North. Nurse Leader,15(6), 370-371. doi:10.1016/j.mnl.2017.08.003
Spencer, S., Bianchi, A., & Buckner, E. (2018). Association Development and Professional Transformation model for nurse leaders. Journal of Nursing Management,26(8), 1100-1107. doi:10.1111/jonm.12642
