Nursing Leadership and Change Management

Running head: NURSING LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Nursing leadership and change management
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NURSING LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Leadership can be defined as the need of the hour for the present day scenario. It has
to be mentioned in this context that the present professional scenario is operated in the
multidisciplinary team format where the professionals coming from a variety of different
professional designations need to collaborate with each other to continue the professional
work harmoniously and achieve the goals successfully. The importance of leadership in the
health care context is also extreme, as the implementation of the multidisciplinary team is
also extremely prevalent in the professional scenario of health care (Barr and Dowding 2015).
On a more elaborative note, there is mounting evidence that suggests that the primary
purpose of the leaders are to ensure optimal achievement of results (Amanchukwu, Stanley
and Ololube 2015). In the field of nursing, leaders are the primary contributors to the smooth
and effective functionality of service or care delivery to the patients. It has to be mentioned in
this context that the importance of the leaders in the field of nursing is to ensure that all the
staff can collaboratively cooperate with each other and provide safe and effective care to the
patients with prioritizing the needs of the patients over anything else. There are various styles
of leadership that the nursing professional can be employ in the health care scenario,
depending of the need of the situation. The most common form of leadership that is being
practiced in the health care contexts includes transformational leadership, situational
leadership, transactional leadership, and autocratic leadership (Kenney 2016). This essay will
attempt to explore the context of nursing leadership pertinent to the Australian health care
system and relate it with the leadership scenario I have experienced, relating them to the
various leadership theories, styles, roles and approaches.

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NURSING LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Leadership and its role in nursing and health care:
Leadership is an age old concept for human society, no civilization can sustain
without able leadership to guide and direct (G inter, Duncan and Swayne 2018). Similarly, in
the health care scenario as well, the need for able and potent leaders is vital. It has to be
mentioned in this context that the need for good leadership in the profession of nursing is not
only to facilitate change, the leadership in nursing acts like the vital aspect to patient care
which facilitates improved patient centred care, advocacy, and compassionate care. Along
with that, leadership also plays a fundamental role in maintaining the productivity and cost
effectiveness of services provided as well. There is mounting evidence which has indicated
at the fact that leadership is a fundamental aspect associated with effective nursing care, in
the context of patient care nurses are the leaders of care planning and implementation. The
white paper on nursing leadership discussed by the ACN or Australian College of Nursing
discussed the different roles or nursing leaders in Australian as well as global leadership
perspectives (Acn.edu.au 2018).
Nurse leadership in world health:
As discussed in the white paper by the ACN, there is a pressing need for nurse
leadership, especially for the global issues (Acn.edu.au 2018). It has to be mentioned in this
context that the common issues that the health care industry is facing includes workforce
development, ageing populations and reduced funding for health care. These prevailing
challenges in the health care scenarios are essentially similar in most of the nations and these
changes can also be adequately and successfully addressed by implementation of sound
leadership (Günzel-Jensen, Jain and Kjeldsen 2018f). The white paper discusses that the
nurse leaders have a significant presence in mitigating these global risks, especially in crisis
situations or in need for advocacy. In this context, the Australian nursing workforce has
availed a varied range of success via multiple domains, such as global nursing leadership

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NURSING LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
representatives, voluntary outsourcing support to nations that are victims to crisis and support
for the refugees and the asylum seekers. As discussed by Barr and Dowding (2015), the
emergency relief nursing workforce have to face a variety of challenges including climatic
hardships, geographical challenges, financial constraints and even issues in accommodating
to the culture and responsiveness of the target patient groups. Many research studies have
focussed on the apt nursing leadership employed by the emergency relief nurses that helped
them mitigate all the risks and provide sound care practices to the victims of war,
environmental calamity, accidents, pandemics or epidemics (Lohman 2016).
Nursing leadership in Australian health systems:
The role of nursing leaders have been exceptional in the massive improvements that
the Australian health care industry has seen in the last couple of decades. A few notable
examples of the tremendous contribution of the nursing leadership on the Australian health
system includes policy making, advocacy strategies, not for profit agencies and groups,
health care regulatory bodies, health education and health promotion, and lastly screening. As
discussed by the White paper by ACN, the nursing leaders are present in government
departments, agencies and steering groups, health care regulatory bodies and health advocacy
groups in the Australian health care systems (Acn.edu.au 2018). There is mounting evidence
that indicates that the nurse leaders have to possess a variety of skills and knowledge,
political, economic, and societal knowledge in the health care contexts. As discussed by West
et al. (2014), the nursing leaders bring to the table a deep understanding of evidence based
practice and education system which had been and is essential for the revolutionary transition
of the modern health care system. There are various examples of leadership pertinent to
different health care scenarios and departments, and each of the examples had been illustrated
effectively in the white paper as examples of leadership in nursing.
Executive nursing leaders: