Effectiveness of Nursing Leadership on Patient and Staff - Literature review Example

Running Header: The Importance, Applicability and Effectiveness of Nursing Leadership on Patient and Staff Outcomes in Contemporary Clinical Practice Contexts. Client inserts his/her name Name of tutor Name of institution Course title Date of submission Introduction Effective leadership has been highlighted as an element that is crucial for achieving positive patient and staff outcomes in today’s clinical practice contexts. Researchers argue that the most important value needed for effective leadership to be achieved is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has been pointed as the value that will enable medical personnel to remain focused and committed in their overwhelming working environments. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss effective leadership, its importance and applicability in contemporary clinical practice contexts. First, the paper will define what effective leadership means, its importance in achieving positive patient and staff outcomes. In the discussion, terms such as emotional intelligence and why it is an important value that should be possessed by any effective nurse leader will be discussed. The paper will also highlight some of the consequences suffered as a result of lack of effective leadership in clinical practice contexts. Various recent clinical researches indicate that effective leadership is crucial especially in clinical practice contexts. There have evolved various definitions of effective leadership. A general definition of an effective leader is a leader who has all the qualities required to organize, supervise and motivate his or her team members in achieving their goals. According to Weinberger (2009), for effective leadership to be realized in clinical practice contexts, emotional intelligence is a fundamental element. There have been various definitions of emotional intelligence. According to Weinberger, a concise definition of emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, evaluate, understand and control emotions in order to promote intellectual growth. Emotional intelligence is also defined as the ability to motivate and encourage oneself and stand firm even during frustrations so as to give hope. From its definition, it is very clear that emotional intelligence is one of the crucial elements that should be possessed by any effective leader in a clinical practical context. Emotional intelligence is highly important in any clinical practice context as ensures good performance and effectiveness. According to Downey and Parslow (2011), effective leadership is essential not only in clinical organizations but all organizations that what to register good performance. The changes taking place in many clinical organizations need nursing leaders to be innovative, patient-focused and highly effective in order to overcome the current challenges. Nursing leaders who are stable emotionally are able to give hope to patients who are in critical conditions and give the other staff members the courage needed in such an overwhelming working environment. Brady and Greta (2010) explain that performance in clinical practice is mainly measured through patient outcomes. Recent research shows that many healthcare systems are facing a shortage in terms of human resources. Therefore, in order for good performance to be realized in these systems, effective leadership is required. An effective leader has the ability to organize the few staff members available to give out their best. As Brady and Greta argue, every successful healthcare organization has effective nurse leaders. Therefore, for any healthcare organization to succeed, accountable and effective nurse leaders and managers are highly essential. According to Casida and Parkerj (2011), effective nursing leadership enhances nurses’ ability in a way that they are able to exceed their employer’s expected organizational goals. Various leadership styles have emerged that have enabled nurses to perceive their duties as challenges instead of obstacles. Through this way, nurses are able to focus on achieving positive patient outcomes. Many researchers argue that good nursing performance is directly related to effective leadership and positive patient outcomes. This shows that for any healthcare organization to achieve positive patient outcomes, it must have effective nurse leaders. According to Thompson (2012), effective nursing leadership is highly important in clinical field because it does not only ensure positive patient outcomes but also ensures positive employee outcomes. It has been proven through various studies that the behavior of nurse leaders influence the behavior of other employees in a healthcare organization. Healthcare employees led by an effective leader are positively influenced by them and this result to improved employee outcomes. This is because effective nurse leaders have excellent guiding skills, which are necessary for modeling and directing the rest of the work staff. Effective leaders are able to earn the respect of other colleagues and hence are willing to follow the directions given by their leader in order to realize their institutional goals. Effective nurse leaders do not only model the way for their colleagues but most importantly act by example. Through this way, these leaders are able to inspire other staff members to become committed in achieving positive patient outcomes. According to Brady and Greta (2010), clinical practical context is full of challenges that require that leaders go an extra mile in creating and implementing effective decisions that enable healthcare personnel to overcome these challenges. Therefore, nurse leaders need to be effective and possess emotional intelligence in order to take risks in ensuring that patients receive quality health care. As Brady and Greta argue, for medical staff to achieve positive patient outcomes, they need support, which makes them become dedicated in their duties. Without effective nursing leadership, there will be no effective nurse leaders to support medical staff in their challenging duties. Effective nurse leaders are able to encourage their staff members and also acknowledge their accomplishments, which makes them become even more dedicated in performing better. Researchers in the field of effective leadership argue that for healthcare employers to realize the hard work of their employees, their leaders have to realize them first. This is because it is an effective leader who first realizes the hard work of their staff and comments or lets the employer become aware of it. According to Davies, Jenkins and Mabbett, educating healthcare leaders on effective leadership is highly important in enhancing nurses’ abilities and performance. A good example is a study that was conducted by medical students from Australian National University, Canberra, on the impact of effective leadership on employee outcomes. The study which was carried out in a number of hospitals in Australia indicated that effective nurse managers enhance a healthy and productive working environment that enable nurses to become committed in achieving their organizational goals. According to Thompson (2012), currently, many healthcare organizations are facing a challenge of inadequate, trained staff. Therefore, managers in these organizations are required to properly organize their limited human resources and properly balance them to ensure that patients receive the best care. This has resulted in many initiatives that are aimed at ensuring that nurse mangers have the right leadership skills to handle this big challenge. Effective leadership skills are essential as they enable a nurse manager to organize their few staff members in such a way that they are able to accomplish all their duties without getting overwhelmed. Through this way, healthcare organizations are able to realize good performance despite having inadequate human resources. According to Agnew, Flin and Reid (2012), effective leadership is highly necessary for ensuring patient safety. In the UK for example, the government has called for initiatives that will ensure effective nurse leadership in order to enhance patient safety. It is argued that effective leadership skills are essential in ensuring that nurses do not neglect their duties and as a result improve patient outcomes by giving out their best. This is possible for example by nurse leaders ensuring that nurses undertake their hourly rounds in wards to attend to all emergent needs of their patients. Research point out that nurse leaders who are trained on effective leadership are able to lead their team members and supervise them in ensuring that patient safety is given the first priority. According to Constance (2009), nursing leadership is essential for transparency to be achieved in clinical practical contexts. By definition, transparency is the aspect of an individual to become truthful and open. As Constance states, in many countries, recipients of healthcare are demanding to be treated with respect and that their healthcare providers provide their services in a transparent way. For this to be achieved, effective leadership is highly essential. Through effective leadership, nurse managers will be able to teach and educate their team members the importance of being transparent in their duties so as to win patients’ trust and hence achieve positive patient outcomes. Apart from teaching the other team members on the need of being transparent, an effective nurse leader also educates them on the need of being patient-focused. From the various factors that have been discussed on the importance of effective leadership in clinical practical contexts, it is very clear that without effective leadership, healthcare organizations would be in chaos. This is because lack of effective nurse leaders would lead to lack of commitment by nurses as they would be no one to encourage and educate them on the need of remaining committed and focused on giving out their best. If nurse leaders lack values such as emotional intelligence, they will not be able to control emotions and hence might make patients lose hope. With healthcare institutions facing challenges such as lack of enough staff, lack of effective nurse leaders would worsen the situation. This is because, the few nurse personnel would lack someone competent enough to organize and balance them to meet the increasing patients’ demands. Conclusion From the paper, it is clear that effective leadership is an important element in clinical practice contexts. An effective nurse leader possesses emotional intelligence, an essential value necessary for controlling emotions in an overwhelming working environment. It is clear that effective leadership enhances work performance and ensures that nurses remain committed and focused in achieving their organizational goals. With healthcare systems experiencing challenges such as lack of enough staff, effective nurse leaders are required to organize and properly balance the inadequate staff to meet all the demands of their patients. On the other hand, lack of effective leaders in healthcare institutions would lead to failure in achieving positive patient and staff outcomes. Therefore, it is highly important that every healthcare organization ensures that they have their nurse leaders educated and trained to achieve the essential skills for effective leadership. References Agnew, C. Flin, R. and Reid, R.J. (2012). Nurse Leadership Patient Safety. BMJ 345:1-2. Brady, B.G and Greta, G.C. (2010). The influence of nursing leadership on nurse performance: a systematic literature review. Journal of Nursing Management, (18):425-439. Casida J. and Parker J. (2011). Staff nurse perceptions of nurse manager leadership styles and outcomes. Journal of Nursing Management, 2011, vol. 19, 478–486. Constance L. M. (2009). Transparency in Nursing Leadership: A Chosen Ethic. Vol (22): 23- 26. DOI: 10.1177/0894318408329159. Davies, s. Jenkins E. and Mabbett G. (n.d). Emotional Intelligence: distrect nurses’ lived experiences. British Journal of Community Nursing, Vol 15(3):141-146. Downey, M and Parslow S. (2012).The hidden treasure in nursing leadership: informal leaders. Journal of Nursing Management, vol.19,517-521. Thompson, J. (2012). Transformational leadership can improve workforce competencies. Nursing Management, Vol (18): 10: 21-24. Weinberger, L.A. (2009). Emotional intelligence, Leadership Style and Perceived Leadership Effectiveness. Advances in Developing Human Resources 2009 11: DOI: 10.1177/1523422309360811. Read More