Leadership and Administration in Nursing at Ohio State University - Article Example

Leadership and Administration in Nursing Ohio State University Background Information 1. Program and Institution LAN108: Leadership and Administration in Nursing Ohio State University Lecture Times: M, W, Th 8:30am to 10:00 am Business Classroom C89 2. Focus of Course Intent In the contemporary clinical environment, nurses are under continuous stress that can lead to job burnout, general dissatisfaction with job responsibilities, and potentially cause errors with dosing that places liability on both the nurse practitioner and the employing organization as well. Stresses in this environment often come from ineffective administrative leadership who do not maintain sociological or psychological knowledge of nurse emotional needs and therefore do not create effective policies or systems designed to deal with stress. Administration and management professionals often work directly with nursing staff, failing to adopt interpersonal relationships that can lead to motivation and loyalty by nurses who are under other tangible stresses related to patient care and time management. In the role of nursing administration, the leader must be concerned with turnover costs and training costs which are part of the operational budgeting process designed to secure the financial interests of the hiring organization. Job burnout caused by conflict between administration and nursing professionals can lead to high absenteeism and even psychological syndromes that jeopardize both nurse well-being and patient care quality (Maslach, 1993; Schaufeli & Enzmann 1998). Ohio State University recognizes that in order to create a positive organizational culture, secure the liability protection of health care organizations and business professionals, and also to ensure patient safety, management and leadership skills require refinement to improve the overall quality of health care delivery. In order to be an effective nurse practitioner or administrative professional, the competencies required to improve the socio-psychological needs of clinical staff must be identified and enhanced with contemporary students of health care. 3. Audience/Learners Though Leadership and Administration in Nursing is intended to create more contemporary health care professionals, including students in the nursing program and business majors, the program is open to all students in the four-year undergraduate program looking to maximize their leadership and administrative proficiencies. Students must have completed the program Introductory Leadership 103 in order to be eligible for the program, due to the more advanced concepts of socio-psychological understandings included in this program. A C+ average is required in the introductory leadership program to successfully qualify for credit in this program to ensure quality in curriculum delivery and student retention. Course Syllabus / Course Outline 4. Course Title: Modern Administrative Theory in Health Care Environments 5. Credit Hours and Length of Course Credit hours: 4 Course Duration: 8 weeks – CEU 60 6. Rationale The fundamental leadership and administrative theories provided in first year management programs often focus on multiple industries, thus negating a more focused curriculum that recognizes the complexities and tangible realities of being employed in the health care industry. This course is designed to streamline administrative and leadership theory with a strict focus on case study leadership and real-life practical application of modern administration in today’s health care organization. In order to facilitate successful socio-cultural relationships with diverse health care professionals and management teams, it is necessary to be equipped with the skill set for leadership quality and competency (Cox, 2005). The broader sociological and psychological theories related to emotional welfare and social programming are included in this course since it is more than strategy and statistics that drive successful health care employment. Contemporary literature identifies demonstrative needs in this industry that must be addressed in order to achieve proficiency in health care administration and leadership. The course picks up where foundational management and leadership courses end to develop aptitude in key domains of knowledge. 7. Catalog Description The course will require students to consult with a variety of academic literature in areas of sociology and advanced psychology to formulate hypotheses about the probable outcomes of leadership in diverse, multi-cultural health care environments. By comparing theory with actual practice in health care organizations, the student will be equipped with the formal knowledge to embark upon a leadership position and/or engage in quality communications with diverse health care professionals. During the eight week course, students will familiarize themselves with advanced systems and process diagrams with emphasis on applying theoretical learning with real-life case study principles. Though an optional course, Modern Administrative Theory in Health Care Environments provides students with advanced lessons in socio-cultural and cognitive psychological theory that can be successfully applied to other program learnings. These include patient and palliative care programs, general leadership and business, sales and marketing, and mental treatment programs that deal with human relationships and cultural awareness. It is congruent with the organizational framework for academics for nursing and leadership students as the course converges successfully with broader administrative program curriculum. 8. Course Prerequisites Outside of introductory leadership courses mandated by the university, students must have completed Introductory Statistics and Methodologies, Introductory Sociology, and Cognitive Behavioral Theory in order to successfully comprehend and empathize with the advanced concepts offered in this course. 9. Course Objectives Upon completion of this course, the student should be equipped to: Explain the emotional and cognitive mechanisms that drive human behavior and apply these learnings to the practical organizational structure in health care organizations. Explore the complexity of dynamic health care organizations and hierarchies of control that dominate relationship development and the need for transformational leadership design. Experience the importance of real-world socio-cultural events within the health care organization and respond according to theoretical administrative action to ensure social harmony, conflict management, and emotional intelligence related to other health care professionals. 10. Course Resources O_Brien-Pallas L., Baumann A., Donner G. et al. (2001) Forecasting models for human resources in health care. Journal of Advanced Nursing 33 (1), 120–129: A fundamental resource to improve forecasting strategically to design health care system management hierarchies and create systems that drive efficiency and organizational cultural unity. Leiter M.P. & Maslach C. (2004) Areas of worklife: a structured approach to organizational predictors of job burnout. In Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being: Vol. 3.Emotional and Physiological Processes and Positive Intervention Strategies (P. Perrewe´ & D.C. Ganster eds), pp. 91–134, JAI Press/Elsevier, Oxford, UK.: A resource describing the dangers of job burnout for nursing staff and the origin of these problems related to stress and other psychological outcomes. Care, W. and Udod, S. (2003). Perceptions of first line nurse managers: What competencies are needed to fulfill this role?, Nursing Leadership Forum, 7(3).: Provides case study readings of what makes successful, competent nursing management to provide real-life illustrations of the health care environment and working with diverse employees with complex emotional needs. Cox, E. (2005). For better, for worse: Matching process in formal mentoring schemes, Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(2): A description of effective mentoring using emotional intelligence and thus producing other effective leaders using sociological principles to justify action. 11. Course Delivery Methods / Teaching Method The course will be delivered by regular face-to-face lectures supplemented with guest speakers who will provide unique insights into their experience and real-world scenario planning tactics. The facilitator will promote group discussion to enhance interpersonal skills development and ensure comprehension of theory versus practice principles. Because the goal of this course is to ensure a hands-on approach with emphasis on real-life health care environments, direct intervention with other diverse students and group working projects will serve as an evaluation tool for the instructor regarding individual student competencies when working with teams. 12. Special Requirements Sketchbook for diagram construction and analysis Laptop with wi-fi capability to facilitate online health care reports and academic journals 13. Attendance Policy Since the course mandates the student maintains an understanding of turnover reduction through administrative quality, attendance is mandatory on all three lecture sessions described in the beginning of this syllabus. Late submissions of work are not accepted (unless proactively described to the tutor) to familiarize the student with the zero tolerance policies that often exist in dynamic health organizations. 14. Course Assignments and Evaluation and Grading Participation 10% Ongoing Thematic Administrative Portfolio 30% Week 5 Diagram Portfolio 20% Week 6 Final Administrative Presentation 40% Week 8 Evaluation is a formative process, whereby the instructor and the student consult to determine whether theoretical knowledge is being applied to tangible practice. Students are not held accountable for their developmental pace using traditional gradebook practices. The student will either receive a pass/fail grade to justify credit receipt based on tutor assessment, group facilitation and critique, and successful completion of the specific assessment criteria for the three major projects described above. The described portfolios and final presentation are in lieu of examinations and will be assessed by the instructor based on specific criteria including effort, comprehension, development and understanding. Participation is also incorporated into the assessment system as 10 percent of the total pass/fail determination. 15. Topical Outline / Schedule Date Lecture Resource Week 1 The Sociology of Health Care Systems Textbook Chapter 1-2 Week 2 The Psychology of Management Textbook Chapter 3 Week 3 Growth through Behavioral Change Guest Speaker Week 4 Understanding Political Processes Guest Speaker Week 5 Thematic Knowledge Management Textbook Chapter 4-6 Week 6 The Group Dynamic Textbook Chapter 7 Week 7 Me, Myself and I Guest Speaker Week 8 A Time for Improvement and Growth Textbook Chapter 8 16. Rationale for Course Design It is necessary to move beyond practical systems that drive theory in health care administration and employment to recognize the complex intellectual, social, and cerebral circumstances that occur in health care organizations. This course was designed to ensure that individuals working in these dynamic environments recognize the mature, irrational, and psychosocial activities that will absolutely impact successful leadership and administration success. The course was structured to introduce the student to complex sociology principles, backed with sound psychological theorist introductions to allow the student to assess the less predictable elements of human behavior that will likely surface during employment in the health care industry. Once the student understands these dynamics, the student will be equipped to apply these theories to the group structure to facilitate conflict negotiation and interpersonal relationship development successfully. Politics and knowledge sharing are related concepts where the individual must first understand behavioral concepts before successful banter can exist between diverse and different health care professionals. Knowledge sharing occurs within political systems and the student must be able to negotiate effectively within these legitimate and sometimes predictable hierarchical systems. Once the fundamentals are understood, shedding a self-gratifying mentality in favor of successful group facilitation is possible and thus rounds out the course objectives. Effective teaching methods, according to the University of Wisconsin (1995) involve putting the student into the role of teacher in order to facilitate comprehension and understanding, with the ability to look beyond obvious trends to see unpredictable patterns that exist. The course is structured under this principle by promoting group work and allowing for practical role play and other associated activities that puts the student into the role of educator for the class. Further, Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory will be initially distributed to students so that the evaluator can recognize individual learning styles to determine which students would best be leaders in the group work and which would serve follower roles more effectively. The course, once these factors have been identified, will evolve students to take the position of opposite to build emotional intelligence and help to understand the role of subservience versus dominance in health care systems. References: Cox, E. (2005). For better, for worse: Matching process in formal mentoring schemes, Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(2) Maslach, C. (1993). Burnout: A multidimensional perspective. In Professional Burnout: Recent Developments in Theory and Research (W.B. Schaufeli, C. Maslach and T. Marek eds), pp.19-32, Washington: Taylor and Francis. Schaufeli, W.B. & Enzmann, D. (1998) The Burnout Companion to Study and Practice: A Critical Analysis. Taylor and Francis. University of Wisconsin. (1995). Strategies for Effective Teaching: A Handbook for Teaching Assistants. Retrieved from http://www.engr.wisc.edu/services/elc/strategies.pdf Read More