Analysis of Effective Leadership in Healthcare: Nursing Experience

This essay delves into the crucial role of leadership within the healthcare sector, specifically through the lens of a nursing professional. It begins with a personal account of a challenging situation in a pediatric ward where the author, as a nurse, demonstrated leadership skills to manage a chaotic situation involving multiple patients with food poisoning and demanding parents. The essay highlights the application of leadership principles, including the 'divide and rule' strategy and the importance of communication, planning, and delegation in ensuring effective patient care and maintaining order. Furthermore, the essay examines the 'ten commitments' framework by NHS England and the Kouzes and Posner model of leadership, illustrating how these theories informed the nurse's approach to the situation. The conclusion emphasizes the continuous need for strategic thinking and adaptability in nursing to provide the best patient care under high-pressure circumstances. The references include sources on leadership in nursing, time management, and healthcare management.

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
Effective Leadership in Healthcare
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Effective Leadership in Healthcare
Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
Personal Experience.................................................................................................................3
Theories Used and the Approaches..........................................................................................5
Conclusion................................................................................................................................7
References.................................................................................................................................7

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
Introduction
Leadership is an essential quality which must be developed in every working professional,
irrespective of the profession and level at the organizational level. Leadership is not
managing people or bossing them around, but it is about working for the people, keeping in
mind the higher goal. Nursing requires a certain level of leadership to ensure that the best
possible care is given to the patients under all circumstances. Nurses often undergo several
experiences where they are required to make quick and effective decisions and someone
trained can be of a lot of help under such high-pressure job (MA, I, & B, 2018). Nursing,
midwifery and care professionals form a huge community of practitioners and make a
difference to people’s lives, health and wellbeing every day. Each of them has the potential to
influence and lead improvement in healthcare.
There are several cases when nurses are required to demonstrate leadership skills not only
guide their team but to also handle the situation in the best possible manner as well. The
following essay will be an account of a personal situation where I demonstrated leadership
skills as a nurse, and how I was successfully able to save the day. The essay will also
highlight my learning and how I could have done a few things better.
Personal Experience
One of my personal experiences where I understood that it was required of me to demonstrate
nursing experience was just a few days ago. Clinical practices are not easy, and working in
such a high pressure and the high-stress job is for sure a difficult task. Nurses often do not
realise that they have to be more active than other healthcare professionals since they are the
first ones to take charge of the patients, and are directly responsible for their care. I have
understood that nurses are not always trained to make the decision, but rather to follow them.
This is a highly dangerous practice (Najimi, 2012). While nurses may not be doctors or the
people treating the patient, they still are the primary caretakers and the first point of contact.
Often doctors are not always available, and it is these nurses and the similar healthcare staff
which has to take charge in case of emergencies, or till the time the doctor is made available.

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
During my small intern as a nurse, I worked in a team of five nurses in the
paediatric ward of the hospital. While it is often understood that this is the
easiest of all, after having worked here for a week I understood that it isn't that
easy. It is difficult to work with children and requires a lot of attention and
focus. Children are not always easy to handle as they are dependent either on
their parents or completely on the nurse for care. The situation becomes even
more difficult when the parents of the children get involved. Hence, nurses now
not only have to take care of the children but become answerable to the parents
who constantly keep meddling with the treatment or the care plan. Keeping
patience amidst all of this is not easy. One incident that occurred changed my
perception towards nurses and their style of management. A case of five children
from a birthday party came up. All these children had food poisoning after eating
some contaminated food at the party and were vomiting blood. The situation
became quite intense as these were pretty young children, of barely 7 years old.
The situation at our ward became quite intense as there were just three of us
working, and the doctor simply treated the children and left them with us. Apart
from these five fresh cases, we already had a bunch of other patients. In all, the
three of us had to look after at least 12 children. We thought it would be easy
since they were just children and we could manage the situation once the food
poisoning cases sort of settled down. Hence, all of us focussed all our energies
there. While the other children were okay, and the situation with them was quite
under control, few of the parents were not happy and thought we were not
interested in treating their children. The situation that we dreaded the most had
finally happened; the parents started bothering us with constant questions
regarding their children, and why we were not spending more time looking after
them . Few of the parents even said that we were being paid more by the parents
of these children, and that's why we were giving them extra attention. This
became severe to the extent that we had to ask a few of the parents to leave the
ward. Because of all of this, the children were getting disturbed as well, which
only made the situation tough for us. Eventually, I realised that this was too
chaotic for us to function and that we had to stop, plan and then continue to
handle the situation. with parents shouting and children wailing, we decided to
meet and plan our strategy. This was that time where I knew I am taking charge
of the situation until my senior reported back to duty. We had to manage these

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
two hours without much trouble; till the time other nurses and our head nurse
came to relieve us. Hence, the three of us decided to go with an old strategy of
divide and rule. We divided the children into three groups of four each to ensure
that we are not over or under burdened at all. Then we decided to not let any
parents stay inside the ward to ensure that they don't meddle with our work. and
that was it (Mathena, 2012). Our efficiency increased a lot and we were able to
work better without any distractions. We were also able to sustain these children,
especially the cases of food poisoning and ensure that the parents do not get
involved and neither do get worked up concerning the treatment of their children.
With all the distractions out, we were able to work better. Soon, the situation
was under control, and by the time our head nurse came, the situation was
completely sorted. The ward was functioning as when it does when 10 nurses are
there, and this was all accomplished because we were able to plan and execute
well.
Theories Used and the Approaches
Nurses are not merely the instruments of the doctors which allow them to ensure a smooth
treatment for the patients but are essential cogs of the entire healthcare machinery. Nurses not
only act as the first point of contact with the patient but are also the ones who are the first
ones to deal with any and every emergency which may befall them under any circumstance.
Nurses have to work a lot, more hours than doctors and have to look after a lot of things
(Jennings.). Right from the diet chart too if the patient is making any progress or not (IMS,
2014). Even after all this, nurses are the least paid and often, under the most stress of work
and pressure of the job.
Even despite all of that, nurses work hard to ensure the best health and treatment is made
available to the patient.
The ten commitments were formulated by the NHS England to develop a framework that is
needed to support practitioners to be leaders of change, help them make a difference, and
demonstrate the added value they can contribute to the health and wellbeing of individuals
and communities. They are:
 To promote a culture where the health of the patient is the most important thing for
any nurse or healthcare professional

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
 To increase the visibility of the nurses in terms of leadership and give them more
decision-making powers
 To help families and individuals to make better and informed choices about the
treatment their kens are receiving
 To focus only on the care of the individual
 To work collaboratively with individual, patients, doctors, families and other nurses
 To be there for the nursing staff and actively respond to the requirements
 To lead and drive research to evidence the impact of what nursing, midwifery and
care staff do
 To develop the right skills in the nurses and to have the right upgrades and education
from time to time regarding all the trends in the medical industry relevant to nursing
 To have the right staff at the right place and at the right time
 To use technology wisely to aid the nursing and healthcare operations (Kaul, 2016)
I believed, for our situation, we were able to employee most of these ten commandments
quite easily. While we couldn't involve parents in taking care of the children for those two
hours since they were acting like bottlenecks, we still ensured that they are informed of every
little progress with regards to their children and that they are not kept in the dark at all. These
ten commandments gave us a very structured way to work, and having followed them
allowed us to be more efficient in this high-pressure time (Kouzes & Posner, 2017)
Next, I identified that the three of us were able to be so efficient because we were able to plan
all our approach and strategy. We showed/followed the same pattern as demonstrated by the
Kouzes and Posner model. We not only strategically planned on how to go about the situation
but broke down our entire approach according to this model. This resulted in us in being able
to work efficiently faster and in a more refined manner. The children were well taken care of
and we were not tired as well. Being the leader in this situation, I got a chance of working
according to this theory, which required us to take a well-structured approach to the situation
at hand. According to this theory, the five practices of ideal and effective leadership are:
 Model the way
 Inspiring shared vision
 Challenging the process
 Allowing others to act
 Encouraging people to perform (Krushner, 2019)

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
As a leader, I believe I was able to perform all these acts in a very considerate manner. not
only did I allow these people to fully focus on going with their intuition, but I also motivated
them to go through with it. This allowed all three of us to work in sync and a very efficient
manner. Our efficiency increased a lot and we were able to work better without any
distractions. We were also able to sustain these children, especially the cases of food
poisoning and ensure that the parents do not get involved and neither do get worked up
concerning the treatment of their children. This was quite a relief for us, as we then
understood that even with our less experience we were able to manage the situation well. This
boosted our confidence a lot (Ian, 2017)
Conclusion
From this situation, it was quite easily understood that as nurses, our jobs will never be easy.
We have to work in a very stressful and high-pressure environment, and that can only be
handled if we are prepared to take a strategic look at the situation. Nursing requires a certain
level of leadership to ensure that the best possible care is given to the patients under all
circumstances. Nurses often undergo several experiences where they are required to make
quick and effective decisions and someone trained can be of a lot of help under such high-
pressure job.
References
Kaul, M. (2016). The 10 commitments: what they mean to nursing. Retrieved from
https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-managers/the-10-commitments-what-
they-mean-to-nursing-27-06-2016/
Ian, R. (2017). THE FIVE PRACTICES OF EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP® MODEL. Retrieved from
http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/About-section-Our-Approach.aspx
MA, V., I, B., & B, D. d. (2018). Understanding the complexity of working under time
pressure in oncology nursing: A grounded theory study. Int J Nurs Stud., 28(6).
Najimi, A. (2012). Causes of job stress in nurses: A cross-sectional study. Iran J Nurs
Midwifery Res.
Jennings., B. M. (n.d.). Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses: Role of the Work
Environment and Working Conditions. In Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-
Based Handbook for Nurses.
IMS. (2014). Transforming Leadership. In The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing
Health. Washington.

Effective Leadership in Healthcare
Mathena, K. A. (2012). Nursing Manager Leadership Skills. JONA.
Krushner, W. (2019). Practices of Exemplary Leadership - Kouzes and Posner. Retrieved from
https://www.businessballs.com/leadership-models/five-practices-of-exemplary-
leadership-kouzes-and-posner/
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge Workbook Revised.