Clinical Practices - Essay Example

? Discussion Paper Introduction The perception of nursing is fundamentally described as the execution of clinical practices for the motive of facilitating every individual to enhance well as recover from different difficulties relating to their health. The major aim of nursing is to promote health along with growth and also to prevent the individuals from any sort of disease or injury. However, the other purposes of nursing include assisting speedy recovery of the individuals or the patients, facilitating independence in terms of health, complying with the needs of the patients and most importantly enhancing the well being of the individuals (Royal College of Nursing, 2003). Apart from the purposes, the notion of nursing entails certain significant responsibilities. It can be stated in the similar context that the responsibilities include performing physical examinations of the individuals or the patients, delivering health education along with counseling and managing care in association with different healthcare professionals (Meleis, 2011). In this discussion, the significance, effectiveness as well as the applicability of nursing leadership on patient and staff outcomes in contemporary clinical practice contexts will be taken into concern. Discussion The term ‘leadership’ is principally described as a comprehensive procedure of recognizing a specific aim as well as motivating other people to perform deliberate activities for the purpose of attaining the desired objectives. Moreover, the notion of leadership is also defined as a method in which an individual broadly influences a collection of people or individuals in order to accomplish the common objectives (Northouse, 2009). The aspect of nursing leadership is defined as those activities which are usually performed by a nurse practitioner for enhancing the health as well as the safety of the individuals or the patients. The different leadership capabilities of a nursing leader comprise frequently consulting with the patients about their health, appropriately administering their treatments, making valuable decisions and coping up with the problems which arises within the team members or multidisciplinary colleagues. In relation to the aspect of leadership, it has been apparently observed that the various qualities of an effectual nursing leader encompass courage, integrity, initiative and most significantly possessing the capability to manage stress. Additionally, the other characteristics of a nursing leader are making effective communication with the team members or the multidisciplinary colleagues, incorporating new as well as creating innovative ideas, making deliberate work planning and encouraging staff participation within the background of healthcare settings (Frankel, 2008). The term ‘applicability’ is generally described as relevant or appropriate which may be applied in order to attain any significant response. Furthermore, the term can also be defined as a premeditated activity of applying any sort of sensible applications for a particular purpose. The application of different methods as well as logical planning schemes can ultimately support the organizations along with their leaders to attain the preferred objectives successfully. The objectives may include attaining considerable market share, enhancing the profitability and accomplishing a significant competitive position over the chief market contenders (Medina, 2002). Conversely, the term ‘effectiveness’ is primarily described as the capability of accomplishing a desired result by the implementation of various policies or procedures. The term also depicts the extent towards which the goals are attained and the degree towards which the targeted difficulties are solved (Waldt, 2004). The significance, applicability as well as the effectiveness of nursing leadership on patient and staff outcomes in contemporary clinical practice context relates to the important fact that a ‘clinical nurse leader’ plays an imperative part in enhancing the health as well as delivering personal care to the patients. With regard to the above context, it can be stated that the establishment of a healthy working atmosphere in a clinical context generally takes place with the aid of strong nursing leadership skills possessed by a nursing leader. The major role of a nursing leader is to protect as well as to ensure a healthy life of the patients along with secured and standard care (Reid & Dennison, 2011). It has been found that the applicability along with the effectiveness of nursing leadership on patient as well as staff outcomes in current clinical practice backgrounds greatly depend on the leadership activities of the nursing leaders by a significant level. The various factors which include the successful operation of the working shifts, raising the morale of the staffs and handling challenging situations are supposed to be greatly reliant upon the leadership skills of a nursing leader. Moreover, effective leaders such as the nursing leaders are also held liable for introducing as well as developing vital effectual strategies as well as plans along with directing their staffs in order to attain the future oriented objectives. Moreover, the effective leaders are also needed to execute different procedures of problem-solving, maintain the efficacy of the staffs along with the groups and incessantly enlarging group identification. The nurses are required to possess the aforementioned skills in order to gain mutual trust as well as respect from the team members and also for the advancement of the clinical practices in this contemporary world (Frankel, 2008). With respect to the modern form of clinical practice, the leadership skills of a nursing leader must include the aspect of performing certain decisive functions. The tasks comprise introducing as well as developing appropriate decisions, suitably delegating responsibilities among the staffs, resolving any sort of potential conflicts and acting with the feature of reliability. These important functions would ultimately assist the nursing leaders to develop the proficiencies of the staff members along with the groups and also to accomplish their expected objectives (Frankel, 2008). The nursing leaders usually facilitates in making the profession of nursing more receptive in today’s varying healthcare system. It has been learnt that the nursing leaders frequently witness certain major challenges within a contemporary clinical practice background which include insufficient funding, deficiency in the skills of the health related staffs and the expectations of the negotiating functions played by the physicians along with the different members associated with the healthcare team. In order to react to these crucial challenges, the nursing leaders need to perform certain significant duties of an effectual collaborator, a communicator, a mentor, a policy maker as well as a risk taker. Moreover, apart from these qualities, the nursing leaders also need to adopt as well as implement a few important strategies for the motive of mitigating the aforesaid challenges by a greater extent. The strategies might include supporting the team members or the groups to identify the problems, initiating necessary steps to improve the interrelation with the working teams and collaboratively working with the teams to develop healthcare objectives (Carter, Misener, Kilpatrick, Kaasalainen, Donald, Lukosius, Harbman, Bourgeault & DiCenso, 2010). The significance, applicability as well as effectiveness of nursing leadership on the patients in the contemporary clinical practice context rests on the aspect of delivering a safe as well as a healthy culture to the patients. The promotion of a secured as well as a healthy culture for the patients can be considered as one of the imperative leadership capabilities of a nursing leader. The nursing leaders are known to perform certain significant functions for introducing fresh form of knowledge as well as making constant enhancements in professional nursing practices and quality outcomes in order to provide a safe and a healthy culture to the patients. With due consideration to the valuable functions or responsibilities which are performed or should be performed by the nursing leaders, it can be stated that the nursing leaders can be regarded as efficient leaders within the clinical practice settings. This is owing to the actuality that the nursing leaders possesses vast knowledge as well as experiences while delivering standard care to the patients. In this regard it has been observed that the nursing leaders often develop themselves as effective leaders through several healthcare related experiences, clinical skills and setting predetermined objectives (Sammer & James, 2011). The nursing leaders often implement their valuable strategies as well as resources in order to attain their predetermined targets. From the perspective of staff outcomes, it has been learnt that the nursing leaders employ appropriate working personnel in their healthcare group in order to increase the operational standards along with the procedures. Similarly, in relation to patient care, the nursing leaders are believed to make the best possible implementation of the accessible resources for the purpose of delivering standard care to the patients (Kelly, 2011). Thus, it can be broadly stated that the significance, applicability as well as the effectiveness of nursing leadership increasingly depend upon the functions as well as the leadership capabilities of the nursing leaders by a significant level. Conclusion The different functions, responsibilities and the leadership capabilities of the nursing leaders ultimately revealed the significance, applicability and effectiveness of nursing leadership on patients as well as staff outcomes in this age of contemporary clinical practices. It is the nursing leaders who are considered to be completely accountable for delivering standard care to the patients along with raising as well as developing operational procedures. In order to offer standard care to the patients and to ensure advancements in the operational procedures, the nursing leaders perform certain major responsibilities which include introducing new healthcare policies concerning the patients and making certain of the complete utilization of the available resources among others. These precious functions of the nursing leaders are measured to ultimately support them to accomplish their desired objectives at large. References Carter, N., Misener, R. M., Kilpatrick, K., Kaasalainen, S., Donald, F., Lukosius, D. B., Harbman, P., Bourgeault, I., & DiCenso, A. (2010). The role of nursing leadership in integrating clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners in healthcare delivery in Canada. Nursing leadership 23, pp.167-185. Frankel, A. (2008). What leadership styles should senior nurses develop? Nursing Times 104(35), pp.23-24. Kelly, P. (2011). Nursing leadership & management. United States: Cengage Learning. Medina, J. (2002). 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