Clinical Leadership in Nursing: Roles, Challenges & Recommendations

This nursing assignment report provides a comprehensive overview of clinical leadership in healthcare settings, emphasizing its importance in enhancing patient care and safety. It delves into the roles and responsibilities of clinical nurse leaders, highlighting the challenges they face, such as workforce shortages, competency issues, and workplace environment concerns. The report includes a literature review analyzing various studies and perspectives on clinical leadership, underlining the need for improved education, training, and support for nurses. Recommendations are made to address identified issues, including fostering open communication, promoting a healthy work environment, and conducting further research to assess the impact of clinical leadership on job satisfaction and patient outcomes. The assignment concludes that effective clinical leadership is crucial for achieving healthcare goals, improving patient safety, and ensuring the well-being of both patients and healthcare professionals.

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Nursing Assignment
11/2/2018

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Clinical leadership theory and nursing...................................................................................................2
The Importance of Clinical leadership in the hospital settings...........................................................2
Attributes to Clinical Leadership in Contemporary Nursing: An integrative review.........................3
Clinical leadership development and education for nurses: prospects and opportunities...................3
Quantitative systematic review of multi-professional teamwork and leadership training to optimize
patient outcomes in acute hospital settings........................................................................................4
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
References.............................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report brings about the discussion on the nursing assignment, which includes the
description of the leadership in clinical settings and the related aspects. It has been
understood that the health care is delivered by the complex systems, and the processes to any
patient in the health care or hospitals, thus it is essential for a clinician to perform their role or
function effectively leading to the positive health outcomes. Thus, it defines about the
clinician leader who contributes to the effective healthcare system in the economy. Thus, the
report in the later part, will include a literature review on the clinical leadership, and the
issues identified, and the appropriate recommendations to improve them ensuring patient’s
health and wellbeing (Wong, 2015).
Clinical leadership theory and nursing
Nursing is a dynamic and the challenging profession that requires the contribution of
efforts and higher commitment of the health professionals or doctors in the hospitals. Due to
the emergence of the increased complexity, chaos, high rates of change, safety, and quality
health issues, and the shortage of the workforce, it has been analysed that the clinical
leadership play an effective role in the healthcare settings (Démeh & Rosengren, 2015).
The Importance of Clinical leadership in the hospital settings
Daly et al., (2014) was of the view, that clinical leadership is important in the
healthcare settings to ensure effective treatment and care of the patient. It is significant as it is
considered as the important foundation for the good-quality and well-run healthcare services
and the systems. It can be described through an example of the New Zealand, which is in a
strong position, and exercise effective clinical leadership in their healthcare settings. The
authors has described well that clinical leadership is not a single activity, rather it has been
linked to a wide range of functions in the healthcare. Firstly, it has been considered as the
important requirement of hospital care, including the performance of their systems and
processes (Lindenauer et al., 2014).
Some other functions include the health reform objectives, delivering timely care to
the patients, system integrity and efficiency are the vital components of the healthcare
system. Nursing is considered as both explicit and implicit to the leaders or leadership in the
healthcare settings. One of the major drawback or issue which has been highlighted by the

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authors in context to the clinical leadership includes that role or function of clinical
leadership is considered important only on the part of some health professional groups.
Rather it is the combined efforts of all the members of the healthcare team in any hospital.
Each and every member in the healthcare team is considered as potential leaders. Thus, for all
the clinical leaders, must have all the competence and skills required to attain positive health
outcomes (Curtis, Sheerin & de Vries, 2011).
Attributes to Clinical Leadership in Contemporary Nursing: An integrative review
Mannix, Wilkes & Daily, (2013) was of the view that the clinical nurse leader in an
emerging role in the health care settings, which aim to deliver effective care coordination to
the patients. The key to healthy, functional, and supportive work environment is effective
clinical leadership, for the nurses working in the hospitals, motivating them towards
delivering services with their full potential. The authors aim to cover the unexplored
attributes or characteristics of the clinical leadership and the issues found throughout their
research. They have stated different positive perspectives of the leadership in the clinical
scenarios; leadership in the healthcare acts as the catalyst for overcoming the problems in the
healthcare. The study was conducted in the hospitals of England or Canada, which revealed
about the importance of the clinical leadership, and the implications on the practice of health
professionals (Moorley & Chinn, 2016). They identified certain issues, such as workforce
shortage, and the incapability of the nurses or professionals in the healthcare; multi-
generational workforce issues in the healthcare. Other issues were also identified amongst
the major health-cares in the Canada, included violence in the workplace, that stated about
24-hour nursing care indicates about impatient care in the hospitals. It requires that the
hospitals needs to be restructured and redesigned to improve patient health and safety while
giving them treatment. Thus, it has been analysed from the research conducted that leaders in
a healthcare are crucial to enhance the patient care outcomes, in the healthcare practices
(Cherry & Jacob, 2016).
Clinical leadership development and education for nurses: prospects and opportunities
According to Joseph &Huber, (2015), clinical leadership in healthcare is termed as the
process of influencing the innovation, in medical practice and the improvement in both,
procedures of healthcare and the practices adopted for the individual care, to achieve safety
and quality of the health service. The researchers have stated that clinical leadership

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encounters a major challenge, of structuring, the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the nurses
in the healthcare so that become able to handle or deal with their roles in the health cares. The
term clinical leadership has not been defined yet, but it, is used to describe doctors as leaders,
within the health service. The leadership of the doctors, in the healthcare settings is driven by
the skills, knowledge, abilities, and the advocacy of the patient interests. Nursing requires
numerous skills, and abilities in different situations, some of the skills, such as integrity,
emotional intelligence, respect, mentorship, advocacy skills, interpersonal and motivational
skills, are necessary while delivering care to the patient (Busse, Aboneh & Tefera, 2014).
Quantitative systematic review of multi-professional teamwork and leadership
training to optimize patient outcomes in acute hospital settings
To discuss the relevance of the research findings, from the above description in the
mentioned articles, it has been understood that nursing is a practice discipline, and the
scholarships, must be predominantly based on clinical scholarships. Husebo & Akerjordet,
(2016), was of the view that nursing development, can be enhanced through improved
education and training facilities to the people/staff in the healthcare organisations. Thus, an
affordable care act has been introduced which has elevated the roles of nurse or clinical nurse
leaders in the healthcare, leading to increased patient safety during their treatment. Relevance
of the research from the perspectives of different authors, and articles has well stated about
the emerging nurses in the healthcare, stating that clinical leadership ensures patient safety,
health, improves communication, and brings clarity in the roles of nurses, in the hospitals
(Stanley & Stanley, 2018). As the change has been so rapid in the healthcare systems, and
treatment of the patients, therefore matching development and education is necessary for the
nurses and other staff working in the hospitals. Innovation and interdependency has been
found as the core concepts providing an opportunity that encourages health professionals to
develop the clinical leadership and provide education, which will foster student nurses to
become future registered nurses or senior nurses in the health-care in an appropriate manner
(Mianda & Voce, 2017).
After discussing about the meaning, attributes, and importance of clinical leadership
in context to the healthcare settings in different regions or countries, a number of has been
identified as the major contributors. Workplace environment, competency of the nurse leader,
and the other staff, complexity of the job, which leads to the increasing turnover in the health
practices, describes about the nursing problems. The limitations of the study included, that

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the qualitative research on the study of the hospitals in different regions, was done on a small
number of patients, which would help the practitioners or the government institutions to take
any steps towards ensuring improvement in healthcare practices. The other limitation was the
absence of the system in the healthcare which would assess the competence of the nurses or
health profession to introduce new methods or trends of ensuring effective patient care in the
hospitals (Mannix, Wilkes & Jackson, 2013).
Recommendations
From the discussion of the clinical leadership in nursing or healthcare practices,
described in the above articles it has been recommended that the nurse leaders in the
healthcare must become aware of the nurse’s concerns related to wrongdoing, or any issues in
their practices. In addition, they must create a mechanism to ensure that the feedback is taken
from them timely. In healthcare settings, there must be studies conducted to analyse the
impact or influence of clinical leadership, on the nurse’s job-satisfaction and their
commitment towards achieving health outcomes. A study must be made on a wider
population, in all the hospitals, regarding the positive role of leaders or leadership, and health
professionals must practice considering the equality, and for the sound health of their patient,
maintaining a healthy work-environment, and sound relationship with nurses or nurse leaders
in the hospitals (Brown, Crookes & Dewing, 2016).
Conclusion
To conclude the above discussion, on the nursing assignment it has been analysed that
nursing involves complex duties, roles, and responsibilities to enhance patient care and safety
in the healthcare. The above report discussed the meaning, significance of the clinical
leadership in healthcare or nursing practices. Clinical leadership defined and structured the
roles of clinical nurses in the healthcare, and ensures attainment of the goals and objectives in
the healthcare. Hence, the report stated the aspect of leadership in clinical settings, and the
issues and recommendations for the learning, education and the opportunities for the nurse
leaders in the future.

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References
Brown, A., Crookes, P. & Dewing, J. (2016). Clinical leadership development in a pre-
registration nursing curriculum: what the profession has to say about it. Nurse-
education today, 36, 105-111.
Busse, H., Aboneh, E. A. & Tefera, G. (2014). Learning from developing countries in
strengthening health systems: an evaluation of personal and professional impact
among global health volunteers at Addis Ababa University’s Tikur Anbessa
Specialized Hospital (Ethiopia). Globalization and health, 10(1), 64.
Cherry, B. & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
United States: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Curtis, E. A., Sheerin, F. K. & de Vries, J. (2011). Developing leadership in nursing: the
impact of education and training. British Journal of Nursing, 20(6), 344-352.
Daly, J., Jackson, D., Mannix, J., Davidson, P. M. & Hutchinson, M. (2014). The importance
of clinical leadership in the hospital setting. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 6, 75-
83.
Démeh, W. & Rosengren, K. (2015). The visualisation of clinical leadership in the content of
nursing education—a qualitative study of nursing students' experiences. Nurse
education today, 35(7), 888-893.
Husebø, S. E. & Akerjordet, K. (2016). Quantitative systematic review of multi‐professional
teamwork and leadership training to optimize patient outcomes in acute hospital
settings. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(12), 2980-3000.
Joseph, M. L. & Huber, D. L. (2015). Clinical leadership development and education for
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Lindenauer, P. K., Lagu, T., Ross, J. S., Pekow, P. S., Shatz, A., Hannon, N. & Benjamin, E.
M. (2014). Attitudes of hospital leaders toward publicly reported measures of health
care quality. JAMA internal medicine, 174(12), 1904-1911.

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Mannix, J., Wilkes, L. & Daly, J. (2013). Attributes of clinical leadership in contemporary
nursing: an integrative review. Contemporary Nurse, 45(1), 10-21.
Mannix, J., Wilkes, L. & Jackson, D. (2013). Marking out the clinical expert/clinical
leader/clinical scholar: perspectives from nurses in the clinical arena. BMC nursing,
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Mianda, S. & Voce, A. S. (2017). Conceptualizations of clinical leadership: a review of the
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Moorley, C. & Chinn, T. (2016). Developing nursing leadership in social media. Journal of
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