Nursing leadership and management in practice - Essay Example

Running head: Nursing- Leadership and management in practice Nursing - Leadership and Management in Practice Abstract Nurses are Healthcare professionals who are trained to help people recover from health disorders and they naturally have lot of responsibilities. These include carrying out the Doctor's instructions, first aid application, maintenance and operation of medical equipments, preparing patients for surgery, rehabilitation care, etc. In doing so, they are also prone to physical, chemical, biological and psychological stress which we always expect them to cope up.

Leadership and management are associated with power available in a position which applicable to nurses too. Nurses need power to carry out their responsibilities effectively while removing powerlessness in others and this power in them should in turn transform into an influence that help other nurses and doctors work towards the common goal of saving precious human lives. As a registered nurse, these are following powers vested in their role, i) Report the performance of lower level staff like sanitary workers, ii) Operate and maintain the medical equipments iii) Ability to contact all Doctors at all time iv) Monitoring the patients' rooms for providing ideal environment and in case of emergency like accidents, immediate responses like arranging for surgery and first aid application could be provided.

Power is required for the nurses because they need to be trustworthy in the patient's point of view but the requirement is restricted. They derive their power through expertise in the field, efforts and public relations .For instance, if a sanitary worker is not doing his job well, it should be immediately notified because this could spread any disease in the entire environment. If nurses are provided only restricted access, they cannot contact doctors in case of emergency. While some medical equipments are used rarely, nurses should be given power to access them for continuous maintenance.

Nurses also are influential always which is evident in the following instances where the reason and retribution strategies are evident, i) A good responsive nurse always derives praise from others making the individual dependable and this in turn creates others to follow suit ii) Responding to other sub ordinates who are not much productive in their work would make the whole hospital efficient adding to its value among the public iii) Acting harshly on staff indulging in unethical activities like those stealing medicines and equipments would raise the individual's value and attracts laurels.

There was a problem identified in the workplace where two patients were admitted in the hospital on the same day both named Ryan. One was affected with Kidney failure and the other with breast cancer. Since both had the same name, the cases were interchanged between them. The mistake was with the nursing staff, who was in charge of making the reports. But apparently intervention was possible before the surgical treatment was about to begin The problem was identified when the patient with breast cancer but with report of kidney failure was brought for pre-surgical procedure under the Registered nurse.

It was identified that the patient has inflammation in the breast and this lead to a point of doubt, while the patient with kidney failure but with report of breast cancer was supposed to be operated the next day. The stake holders involved in this problem are the two patients, the concerned surgeons, and the reporting staff and the registered nurse. The problem could be approached by first checking for all patients having Kidney failure. The reports should be checked for matching names and if they are not found it means reports were not interchanged and only one patient's report was wrong.

These are all possible because of the powers vested with a registered nurse. The reporting staff should be informed of the fault and has to be warned to be more credible and responsible while making sure that the reports have been restored correctly before the surgery starts. The problem if not identified properly could impact the lives of both the patients and could damage the reputation of the hospital that they work for. Many such exemplary acts by the nurses would influence others in terms of commitment and credibility.

References Elaine Lynne La Monica.(1986) Nursing - Leadership and Management Nurse. March 27, 2003. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Retrieved Feb. 02 2008 from http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/occup_workplace/nurse.html Occupational Information - Nurse (2007). Myfuture. Retrieved Feb. 02 2008 from http://www.myfuture.edu.au/services/default.aspFunctionID=5050&ASCO=232311A Renee Frank. . Power and Influence in the Nursing Field, Jan 07, 2008. Retrieved 02 Feb. 208 from http://www.

associatedcontent.com/article/504053/power_and_influence_in_the_nursing.html Susan Marshall (2000). How to Grow a Backbone: 10 Strategies for Gaining Power and Influence at Work The Power of Professional Nursing. Medscape. Retrieved 02 Feb 2008. from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/553405_2