Question:
Discussion: Leadership Strategy
As a nurse, you serve an important role in identifying strategies to effectively manage health care resources and in leading health care quality improvement. You must be able to decide what leadership style or strategy to apply in a given situation to achieve an effective resolution of the issue. Read the following two scenarios and select one to focus on in this Discussion. Consider the leadership style or strategy that might be most effective in the scenario you selected.
Scenario 1
You work in a for-profit nursing home, with about 100 beds, on a 20-bed unit that is largely patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Your patient mix is predominantly Medicare and Medicaid patients. Your nursing home is part of a larger system that includes a major medical center, as well as VNA, outpatient dialysis, and a fully integrated network. Your nurse manager is getting feedback from the hospital that your nursing home is sending too many patients to the ED who really don’t need to go. How would you go about figuring out what could be done at the nursing home to prevent avoidable ED visits?
Scenario 2
You’ve been associated with an outpatient cardiology clinic that is part of a large academic medical center. Your patients are mostly charity care and managed Medicaid. Most have a prescription plan, but none have a “family doctor” and use the clinic (and the ED) regularly. Most are unfamiliar with their medications and do not have the resources for care coordination in their family/social network. About 25 CHF patients have been “lovingly,” but inappropriately, called “frequent fliers” because of their inability to manage their own care, their frequent visits to the ED, and their “one night stays” paid at the observation rate. As a staff nurse in this clinic, describe the strategies you could devise for you and your fellow staff nurses targeting these 25 patients. Find at least one article from the professional literature to corroborate your recommendations.
Select one of the scenarios, and post the following:
Describe the most appropriate leadership style and/or strategy to apply in the scenario you chose in order to implement the recommendations successfully. Justify your selection.
Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature. Your posts need to be written at the capstone level (see checklist)
Notes Initial Post: This should be a 3-paragraph (at least 350 words) response. Be sure to use evidence from the readings and include in-text citations. Utilize essay-level writing practice and skills, including the use of transitional material and organizational frames.
Answer:
Leadership Strategy
In their determinations to attain successful care results, clinical nurse leaders are usually in charge of upholding efficient flow of activities in their respective departments. As a result, they have to be adequately prepared with leadership capabilities such that when joined with applied nursing abilities; enable them to swiftly make strong decisions (Middleton, 2011). Through including decision-making leadership styles into their proficient plans, clinical nurse leaders are able to successfully organize administrative activities, nurse-led procedures, and health programs within their employment places. It is a brilliant idea to implement a leadership technique which is favors their everyday routine. Nonetheless, in attempt to perfect their abilities to become accustomed to continually varying medical situations, it is vital that nurse leaders comprehend the various leadership approaches and when they are most appropriate.
In case scenario 1, bureaucratic leadership style is more applicable and can help solve the state of affairs in this nursing home. In nursing, guidelines are planned to make sure that patient safety and health are prioritized and come first. Thus, clinical nurses in this case can embrace a bureaucratic leadership technique for them to remain responsible for perpetuating rules and make sure that subordinate nurses observe the protocols (Lockwood, 2017). Employees should be trained properly to adhere to rules and communicate efficiently with the institution’s administrators before sending the patients to the Emergency Department (ED). With proper implementation of bureaucratic leadership style which is invariable in nature, these nursing home treatment routines for patients in emergency conditions can be normalized.
Networks in this nursing home are said to be fully integrated and a bureaucratic leadership approach would help since it diffuses amongst various departments and simplifies their operations. It mainly focuses on rules, regulations, and procedures which should be adhered by all and sundry. However, care should be taken in this scenario if this style of leadership is applied since when unsuitably used then it can lead to negative results, causing a lack of innovation and flexibility in the entire team. But I deem it appropriate because it will ensure proper consultations are done before referring a patient into the ED.
References
Lockwood, W. (2017). Clinical Supervision: Leadership Styles. https://www.rn.org/, 1/12.
Middleton, J. (2011). Nursing Times-Leadership Skills for Nurses . Nursing Times Leadership Supplement, 3/34.
