Leadership and Management - Chief Nursing Officer - Research Paper Example

? Leadership and Management Nursing, Research Paper user [Pick the Chief nursing officer (CNO) is one of the most important and cardinal positions in any health care facility. It is the executive title that is assigned to one of the most experienced and able nursing professional in any health care facility. Chief nursing officer is responsible for coordinating and looking after the daily routines and official works of any organization’s health department or health facility. Chief nursing officer has a paramount role to play in aligning the organizational requirements with the problems, demands and abilities of nurses. All the complaints, problems and official liabilities of the nursing department have to be sorted by the chief nursing officer. Chief nursing officer must possess appropriate leadership skills because of the challenging demands that exist in working environment on daily basis. There are grave issues that take place in the health facilities like nursing staff deficiencies, human errors, life losses and patient dilemmas. Chief nursing officer has to make sure that the workflow of the health facility remains smooth and sound (Hader, 2011). Chief nursing officers are kind of leaders that are responsible for creating a special kind of patient care culture at the workplace so that the nurses working under him can know the fact that their main duty is to serve the needy patients whole heartedly. If the culture is based on human services and care then there will be really less issues and depleted problems. As a leader the chief nursing officers has to lead the nursing team and set examples. Chief nursing officer is responsible for creating cultures that support acts of courage and bravery in nursing. The American Organization of Nurse Executives has given a code of conduct to develop a good and groomed culture at the health care facilities (American Nurses Association, 2001). It consists of nine principals and the fifth principal demands for true leadership to be competent, credible, visible, and expert in the related matters of health care. These behaviors are really necessary for the chief nursing officers because courage and speaking power is the key when working in the collaborative environments. There is really very little accommodative space for human errors in the medical environments where the patients come in very serious and critical conditions. If the chief nursing officer will not show courage to take necessary and bold action, then there is a huge probability that the health care facility will not remain reliable in the eyes of the masses and overall organizational requirements of the hospital or health care facility will never be achieved. Corley (2002) described the ‘courage to take action’ in a morally declined society and stressful environments like that of any hospital as the most important factor in leading any health care environment. The nurses are normally over worked and inter-departmental conflicts occur on regular basis. CNO should be courageous enough to speak on behalf of the nurses and tell the upper hierarchies about the real needs of patients. Buresh and Gordon (2006) have argued that nurses must feel that the chief nursing officer is really working on their behalf and their voice is getting the appropriate outlet. Courage, conviction, and capacity to work in an adaptive way are the must have qualities of the chief nursing officers Chief nursing officers have the sole responsibility to make sure that patient care standards, clinical requirements and health standards are met at the health facility. He is accountable for any type of problems in the nursing department. Chief nursing officer has the duty to motivate, train and control the nursing staff and inculcate the fact in them that their main duty is to serve the patients. Any type of human error resulting in loss of human life or injury can cause detrimental effects to the health organization or hospital. The chief nursing officer just cannot issue orders and do nothing rather leadership and managerial skills are a necessity from his side to keep the things going smooth. They are consulted instantly about the improvement of the nursing facilities in the health facility and the job of Chief nursing officer is to provide the higher hierarchies with the best possible nursing services. Some of the main human resourcing activities include nurse recruitment, training and retention. Similarly if there are problems from the side of higher authorities for example the nurses are not getting their required wages and allowances then it is the job of the chief nursing officer to act on their behalf immediately and bridge any kind of communication gap. Chief nursing officers nurture and develop patient-care programs, manage and develop nursing budgets, plan and build new patient oriented services, develop and maintain nursing policies and procedures, excessively take part in inter organizational services and decision making. Chief nursing officers also conduct performance improvement activities and present nursing services at board of director meetings. They also perform reporting of all the nursing services to the directors of the health care facilities so that they can keep track of all the activities taking place to ensure transparency and quality. Along with being the most authoritative role in the nursing profession, the role of CNO confers a number of very challenging responsibilities to a CNO. A CNO is responsible for setting and maintaining standards of practice. Collaborative leadership skills are really necessary for any chief nursing officers because he has to coordinate with other departments of the health facility for example surgery, finance, medicine and physicians in order to make sure that his department is working perfectly according to the clinical care, education, and research needs. Chief nursing officer has to act on behalf of all the nurses that are working in the hospital or any health facility (Hader, 2007). Effective communication is the key in the responsibilities of the chief nursing officer because there are a lot of issues that occur among the nursing department and other medical and health care facilities for example the time division and work load problems. The chief nursing officer has to communicate with all the nurses and inculcate every stakeholder on board after efficient requirement gathering, they have to communicate these issues to the other members of board of directors. The communication should be in such a way that the problems and issues can be clearly identified by the other department heads and similarly the top hierarchies can clearly understand the genuine needs and demands of the nursing department. Communication must be precise and to the point. The most important and paramount component of communication for the chief nursing officer is the communication with the patients. In order to have a complete know how of the quality of the patient care facilities and nursing services, the chief nursing officer must ask the patients about the facilities they are being provided and what is the behavior and attitude of the nurses with them (McCab, 2003). In case of issues, the chief nursing officer should call the nurses to the meeting and communicate the issues of the patients and must take necessary action to sort out the problems or causes behind these issues. The chief nursing officer must strive to avoid any issues taking place at workplace and try to nurture a culture of love, peace and harmony at the health care facility. The error assessment and quality of nursing must be improved by regular surveys, patient inputs and tests of the nurses so that the patients can get the best services from the nurses and the prime goals of the health facility can be achieved (Edmonson, 2010). References American Nurses Association. (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Amer Nurses Assn. Buresh, B., & Gordon, S. (2006). From silence to voice: What nurses must know and communicate to the public. London: Cornell University Press. Corley, M. (2002). Nurse moral distress: A proposed theory and research agenda. Nursing Ethics, 9(6), 636-650. Edmonson, C., (Sept 30, 2010) "Moral Courage and the Nurse Leader" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 15, No. 3, Manuscript 5. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Courage-and-Distress/Moral-Courage-for-Nurse-Leaders.html [Accessed: 5 Mar 2013]. Hader, R. (2011). The role of the corporate chief nursing officer. Nursing management, 42(6), 45-47. [online] Retrieved from: http://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Fulltext/2011/06000/The_role_of_the_corporate_chief_nursing_officer.10.aspx [Accessed: 5 Mar 2013]. Hader,R. (2007). Are you prepared for your role as a CNO? Nursing Management, (38), 3. p. 43-44. McCabe, C. (2003). Nurse–patient communication: an exploration of patients’ experiences. Journal of clinical nursing, 13(1), 41-49. Read More