Effective Leadership in Nursing: Importance of Self-Regulation and Communication Skills

This article discusses the importance of self-regulation and communication skills in nursing leadership and how they can influence patient care. It also provides a personal experience and an action plan to develop these skills as a registered nurse.

Running head: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
Values demonstrated in the experience:
The clinical nurse educator showed an excellent skill of self-regulation while interacting
with not only the patients and the family members who came to the dialysis ward. She also
showed the skill with the healthcare teams, student nurses who were working as a team, health
aides as well as the higher officials of the organization. The NUM was absent and she handled
both the responsibilities with great expertise and ease. The family of the patient was constantly
asking about the health of the patient who was having dialysis for the first time. Even after
repeatedly stating to them that the patient was well, the family was asking about his health
continuously. It was becoming very difficult for the nursing professionals to attend to their
concerns repeatedly in the busy shift. When all the registered as well as the student nurses had
become frustrated and disappointed with the family members, the clinical nurse educator still
showed no negative emotions and solved the queries and concerns of the family
compassionately. She educated both the patients and the family members in a way by which the
latter felt satisfied. She continued to do so even in the busy shift without losing her temper or
avoiding the family member’s concerns in the dialysis unit. The family members of the patient
were delighted at the treatment they got from the clinical nurse leader and were praising the
service of the organization. Even in another instance, the nurse students constantly interrupted
the clinical nurse leader in her work. They required help from her in developing their knowledge
and skills. They were repeatedly approaching her with different concerns that affected her own
flow of regular work. However, she patiently handled all the concerns and attended to each of
their queries without getting disappointed or without shouting on them. Even during the time of
negotiation with the higher officials regarding resource deficiency in the ward, she negotiated
with them in a calm and composed manner. She was calm in spite the suggestions made by them

2
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
were highly disappointing. All these showed that she had proper self-regulation skills that helped
her to maintain her emotions in every strenuous situation.
It is importance in influencing patient care:
Self-regulation or self-management is the skill that is mainly concerned with how
individual nurses control themselves and manage their emotions, inner sources and abilities
effectively. Researchers are of the opinion that this skill includes the ability of the individuals to
manage their own impulses (Arnold and Boggs 2015). Five important elements make up the
skills of self-regulation in the healthcare professionals. These elements are the self-control,
trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability as well as innovation.
Often during the time of educating and taking care of patients, the nurses might have to
go through many annoying situations as different patients are of different natures. In such
situations, professionals need to exercise self-control in such situation. Exercising self-control
includes not masking or hiding the emotion but proper recognition and controlling of the
emotions appropriately (Weller et al. 2014). This aspect prevents any form of unwanted situation
and development of negative feelings in the patients. In the present day, person-centered care
demands professionals to develop therapeutic relationship with patients. In this situation,
trustworthiness and conscientiousness are very important personal values that need to be
developed by professionals.
Trustworthiness is the ability of the nursing professionals for maintaining the integrity.
This aspect mainly means that whatever steps the nursing professionals take, they should be
consistent with the personal values. Researchers are of the opinion that people, who are
trustworthy, can act ethically (O’Hagan et al. 2014). Therefore, in order to ensure ethical service

3
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
and interventions by nurses to the patients, they need to harbor this component of self-regulation.
Conscientiousness is the ability of the individual to take responsibility of their own personal
performance and make sure that it matches with the ability and the values of the professional.
While caring for the patients, the professionals should be conscientious and confident about their
own intervention and ensure that the best evidence-based care is provided to patients.
Adaptability can be defined as the ability by which professionals can become flexible in
responding to the different types of changes. Every organization and the working system require
changes from time to time as it influences development of productivity and more profit (Bello
2017). Therefore, in healthcare industry also, changes are the regular constant and hence nursing
professionals need to develop the skills of adaptability. Without such skills, adapting to such
change might become stressful and frustrating and this might affect the patient care (Moore et al.
2018).
Innovation is one of the important elements of the self-regulation skill. This skill means
being open to different types of novel approaches as well as ideas. Often in many situations,
there might be necessity of the nursing professionals to go out of the traditional ways of working
and apply innovative interventions for successful outcomes (Williams et al. 2016). Such skills
are also therefore important for treatment of patients and should be harbored by professionals.
Resonation of the experience for being an effective registered nurse:
Person centered care to the patients is the most important approach that every nursing
professionals need to take while caring for the patient. This approach ensures keeping the patient
at the center of the decision-making and developing care plans according to his specific needs in
place of “one treatment for all” approach (Davis et al. 2014). The autonomy and dignity of the

4
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
patient is considered as the first priority in this approach. This approach therefore empowers the
professionals making them an active member in their healthcare. However, while undertaking
such an approach, self-regulation skills are very much important.
As the decisions of patients and family members are given equal importance, often they
might come up with suggestions that are not feasible or not evidence-based. As huge freedom is
given to patients regarding their care, they might not be able to take correct decisions. However,
at the same time, they might remain adamant with their suggestions (Oetzel 2017). Therefore, it
might be stressful for the nurses to handle such critical situations effectively and they might feel
drained out emotionally. They might also feel agitated with the situation. In such a situation,
effective self-regulation is extremely important. This skill would be helping healthcare
professionals to maintain their emotional stability, remain calm and composed and ensure that
they are maintaining integrity in their profession. Better they can self-regulate, better will be the
patient satisfaction and lesser will be the chances of conflicts and patient dissatisfaction.
Moreover, this skill is also important for working in multi-disciplinary skills (Walczak et al.
2016).
In the healthcare centers, it often becomes important for nursing professionals to work in
multi-disciplinary teams. Often different professionals with various expertise need to work
together to care for a patient. In such a situation, different instances may arise where conflicts
may take place (Amouri et al. 2015). Power struggles, ego clashes, miscommunication, blame
games and many others also take place. In such situations, emotional regulation and keeping
oneself calm, composed, and carrying on with the responsibilities become primary (Weis et al.
2016). Hence, self-regulation skills are important for ensuring safe and quality patient care along

5
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
with maintaining of a therapeutic relationship with the patient and working effectively with
multi-disciplinary skills.
Values demonstrated in the experience:
The clinical nurse educator had to lead a team of new student nurses who were placed in
the renal-dialysis ward. The students were communicated effectively and their concerns were
discussed through effective feedback sharing process. The educator was helpful and was
approachable. The educator always used to work with the students and constantly provided
constructive feedback to them. This helped the students in developing their skills and knowledge
that would be required by them in renal-nursing domain. She communicated empathetically and
compassionately with all team members who were scared or were burned out. Therefore, her
communication skills were so polished that she could easily motivated the students and made
them work beyond their potential. She constantly encouraged the two-way communication
medium and always encouraged the professionals to provide her with innovative ideas and
suggestions. Therefore, the nursing students were happy, their productivity increased, and they
became more confident. Moreover, during educating the patients who were scheduled to have
dialysis for the first time, we noticed that she was calm and composed and educated them
without using any technical jargons. She listened and attended to each of the questions of the
patient patiently and with a compassionate approach. These attributes made the patients satisfied.
She also used the feedback exchange skills to ensure a teach-back method for the patients. This
aspect helped her to understand whether the patient had understood or not.

6
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
It's importance in influencing patient care:
Effective communication skills are extremely important for leaders of the healthcare
teams. In the healthcare departments, effective communication from the leaders can ensure the
development of proper teamwork and hence it ensures patient safety (Mitchell et al. 2016).
Leaders need to have active listening skills and they should not interrupt the members without
making them complete their statements. When the members see that their concerns are listened
to properly, they feel that their leaders are interested in their welfare and want to solve their
issues effectively (Austin et al. 2015). This aspect shows their liking towards their organization
and they feel more dedicated. Moreover, leaders also need to ensure that they are maintaining
two-way communication skills. Only advising and ordering the subordinates and not allowing
them to express their views might make them feel disheartened. They might develop the feeling
that the organization did not respect their suggestions and that they are not valued in the
organization. They will withdraw themselves from the teamwork and their productivity will be
hampered. They will also suffer emotionally which might burn them out as well. Therefore,
leaders need to engage in constructive feedback exchange session where they need to listen to
the suggestions and make them feel respected. They can also provide constructive comments on
the skills and knowledge of the subordinates to help them develop their skills.
Researchers opine better communication can also motivate the employees to work
beyond their potential, helping them to achieve the goals. Therefore, communication that ensures
inspiration and accompanies empathy and compassion can help the subordinates to feel
encouraged (Johnston et al. 2015). This aspect will encourage them and hence they will try their
best to venture out their potential and align with the organizational objectives to meet the vision

7
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
of the organizations. More effective the communication skills, better will be the teamwork and
higher will be the productivity.
Development of an effective communication skill not only helps the leaders in managing
effective teamwork but also helps in ensuring high quality care. Researchers are of the opinion
that therapeutic communication helps healthcare professionals to develop effective relationships
with the patients. Communication helps in the development of trust and mutual respect of the
professionals with the patients. It also helps in taking informed consent of the patient and their
dignity and autonomy is maintained. Through empathetic and compassionate communication,
nurses may develop bonds with patients and reduce their anxiety and nervousness (Cherry and
Jacob 2016). This aspect therefore results in positive health outcomes on patients and ensures the
compliance of patients with the medication. Therefore, effective communication is also essential.
Resonation of the experience for being an effective registered nurse:
Effective communication is one of this most important skill that every nursing
professionals need to develop. Often nurses need to interact with different other healthcare
professionals while working as a part of the multidisciplinary team. During working in the team,
effective communication skills like that of active listening and feedback exchange are extremely
important. Active listening ensures that the entire concern of the speaker is heard and their
concerns are attended . This aspect also prevents occurrence of medication errors and other kinds
of missed interventions (Fish et al. 2017). This aspect helps in ensuring quality care and
prevention of adverse events in the healthcare departments. Moreover, effective feedback
listening skills are also important. It helps in exchange of ideas and assists in development of
bonds among these team members. Additionally, informal communication also helps in the

8
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
reduction of the workload and helps in sharing the burden among the team members. With the
help of effective communication, I can also develop strong bonds with patients. I need to talk
with patients with empathy and compassion making them feel that I can understand their pain
and suffering. These would make patients believe that professionals are genuinely interested in
their care and would help in development of trust and mutual respect.
Action plan:
SMART Goal:
Development of the active listening skills and feedback
exchange skills within a period of 6 months would be my main
goal. For this, I would be joining a workshop to develop my
communication skills.
This goal is measurable as the mock tests and the role-play
sessions that will be conducted by the mentor of the workshop
would help me to understand my scores and how well I am
developing the skills.
This goal is achievable as the workshop would be conducted on
weekends and would be helpful for me to attend the workshops.
Moreover, it will be within my community and hence, I will be
able to attend to them effectively on the weekends.
This goal is relevant, as the workshops would help me to

9
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
develop the skills, which, I can apply in the future in the
professional work field. It would help me to develop proper
relationships with team members and patients and reduce
chances of error and negative outcomes in the healthcare sectors
like preventable deaths and adverse patient outcomes.
In order to achieve this skill, I would require 6 months.
Rationale for SMART
Goal:
Effective communicational skills help in development of
therapeutic relationship with patient and helps in maintaining
effective teamwork among healthcare experts (Agarwal et al.
2015). It also helps in reduction of medication errors, missed
interventions, reduction of patient waiting times, effective
decision making in patients and stress reduction.
Strategy Actions Support/Resources
Experienc
e
(What will
I do / what
I will attend workshop classes on
effective communication skills. I
would develop the skills and
knowledge by which communication
can be conducted in a compassionate
The books and the journals that would
be recommended by the mentor in the
workshop needs to be collected.
Moreover, other resources like the
pens, papers, pencils, exercise books

10
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
I have I
done in the
past that I
can apply
here?)
and empathetic manner with the
patients. This workshop will help me to
brush my active listening skills and
feedback exchange skills and will help
me to become productive team
members in the healthcare teams and
work in a coordinating and
collaborative manner with all (Epstein
et al. 2017).
and others also needs to be assimilated
as required.
Example
(Who can I
learn from
and how
will I do
that? How
will I
adapt the
example to
my
practice?)
I will mainly learn from the mentor
who will be guiding me in the
workshop. He is a stalwart healthcare
professional who has currently retired
and is now training new students who
are stepping into the nursing
profession. He would be guiding me
and would be helping me to recognize
my strengths and weakness in
developing effective communication.
Accordingly, I would follow him and
work according to his advice to
develop my skills.
I will work as per his advice in the
classes. Besides, I will be also getting
into discussion sessions with him. I
would request him to discuss some of
his experiences. This would be helping
me to learn the different areas where
effective communication is important.
His experience would also warn me not
to conduct the mistakes he had done in
his preliminary years. This discussion
would be very helpful (Constand et al.
2014).
Education I have library access to the digital I have library access, personal

11
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
(What
sources of
informatio
n can I
access /
use? How
will I
apply that
to my
goal?)
library. This would help me to gather
important journal articles on the topic
of effective communication in
healthcare. Such articles would be
helpful for me to gather evidence based
knowledge and skills that would be
helpful in my profession.
computer as well as Smartphone. All
these would be helping me to gather
articles and analyze them accordingly.
References:

12
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
Agarwal, S., Perry, H.B., Long, L.A. and Labrique, A.B., 2015. Evidence on feasibility and
effective use of mH ealth strategies by frontline health workers in developing countries:
systematic review. Tropical medicine & international health, 20(8), pp.1003-1014.
Ammouri, A.A., Tailakh, A.K., Muliira, J.K., Geethakrishnan, R. and Al Kindi, S.N., 2015.
Patient safety culture among nurses. International nursing review, 62(1), pp.102-110.
Arnold, E.C. and Boggs, K.U., 2015. Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015. Strategic public relations management: Planning
and managing effective communication campaigns. Routledge.
Bello, O., 2017. Effective Communication in Nursing Practice: A literature review.
Cherry, B. and Jacob, S.R., 2016. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Constand, M.K., MacDermid, J.C., Dal Bello-Haas, V. and Law, M., 2014. Scoping review
of patient-centered care approaches in healthcare. BMC health services research, 14(1),
p.271.
Davis Boykins, A., 2014. Core communication competencies in patient-centered care. ABNF
Journal, 25(2).
Epstein, R.M., Duberstein, P.R., Fenton, J.J., Fiscella, K., Hoerger, M., Tancredi, D.J., Xing,
G., Gramling, R., Mohile, S., Franks, P. and Kaesberg, P., 2017. Effect of a patient-centered
communication intervention on oncologist-patient communication, quality of life, and health

13
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
care utilization in advanced cancer: the VOICE randomized clinical trial. JAMA
oncology, 3(1), pp.92-100.
Fish, J.A., Peters, M.D., Ramsey, I., Sharplin, G., Corsini, N. and Eckert, M., 2017.
Effectiveness of public health messaging and communication channels during smoke events:
A rapid systematic review. Journal of environmental management, 193, pp.247-256.
Johnston, M.J., King, D., Arora, S., Behar, N., Athanasiou, T., Sevdalis, N. and Darzi, A.,
2015. Smartphones let surgeons know WhatsApp: an analysis of communication in
emergency surgical teams. The American Journal of Surgery, 209(1), pp.45-51.
Mitchell, R.J. and Von Zoller, K., 2016. The Link between Communicative Intelligence and
Procedural Justice: The Path to Police Legitimacy. In Handbook of Research on Effective
Communication, Leadership, and Conflict Resolution (pp. 456-478). IGI Global.
Moore, P.M., Rivera, S., Bravo‐Soto, G.A., Olivares, C. and Lawrie, T.A., 2018.
Communication skills training for healthcare professionals working with people who have
cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (7).
Oetzel, J.G., 2017. Effective intercultural workgroup communication theory. The
International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, pp.1-5.
O'hagan, S., Manias, E., Elder, C., Pill, J., Woodward‐Kron, R., McNamara, T., Webb, G.
and McColl, G., 2014. What counts as effective communication in nursing? Evidence from
nurse educators' and clinicians' feedback on nurse interactions with simulated
patients. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(6), pp.1344-1355.

14
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN NURSING
Walczak, A., Butow, P.N., Bu, S. and Clayton, J.M., 2016. A systematic review of evidence
for end-of-life communication interventions: who do they target, how are they structured and
do they work?. Patient education and counseling, 99(1), pp.3-16.
Weis, J. and Lundqvist, P., 2016. Parent experiences of communication with healthcare
professionals in neonatal intensive care units: a qualitative systematic review protocol. JBI
database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 14(8), pp.12-18.
Weller, J., Boyd, M. and Cumin, D., 2014. Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming
barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare. Postgraduate medical journal, 90(1061),
pp.149-154.
Williams, K., Kemper, S. and Hummert, M.L., 2016. Enhancing communication with older
adults: overcoming elderspeak. Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health
services, 43(5), pp.12-16.