NURS 3514: Leadership in Healthcare: Decision-Making and Finances

The assignment solution addresses leadership styles, decision-making processes, and staffing strategies in a healthcare setting, particularly within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The student identifies a democratic leadership style and advocates for collaborative decision-making to mitigate biases and leverage team expertise. Regarding staffing, the student proposes a reliance on professional judgment, incorporating intuition and knowledge, to navigate the complexities of the pandemic. The discussion extends to budget concerns, emphasizing the importance of operating, capital, and program budgets for essential resources like personal protective equipment. Finally, the student reflects on key learnings, including the importance of teamwork, inspiration, and resilience, gained throughout the course, highlighting the distinctions between the roles of RN, RPN, and PSW.

Leadership Style
1. Based on your leadership style (state what that is), what style of decision-making
would you say you follow (see Week 12 PPT up to Slide 10). Give rationale. 2. What
staffing mix will you use in your healthcare setting during the pandemic when you
consider the 3-Factor Framework and the controlled acts?
As a nursing leader and manager in the current COVID 19 pandemic, I would employ a
democratic style of leadership. Democratic leadership is where a leader makes decisions
based on the input of every member of the team. With democratic style of leadership, I would
make decisions using collaborative decision making style. Collaborative decision making
aims at combining inputs from different team members so as to select the best choice from
the standpoint of the objectivity. I would use the collaborative decision-making style because
it ensures that the best possible solutions are chosen from the few proposed. Due to the
complexity and polarity of the COVID 19, evaluation of different available opportunities is
very critical. Since team members have different behaviors, experiences, interactions and
psychological factors which affect thinking, I believe this decision making style will prevent
cognitive bias, trial and errors. Considering the 3-factor framework and controlled acts, I
will use the reliance on professional judgement. Reliance on professional judgement
combines the aspects of intuition and professional knowledge (Week 12 notes). This staffing
mix is effective in making highly complex decisions by gathering information from all parts
of the brain. Since data on the COVID 19 is not known and cannot be calculated, reliance on
professional judgement is the only way of solving this problem in the community.
2. What budget and costs are you most concerned about now?

At this moment, the budget and costs I am most concerned with is the operating budget, capital
budget and program budget. This is to ensure that items needed for daily operation like personal
protective equipment and to contain the virus is available. According to Food and Drug
Administation (2020), personal protective equipment acts as a barrier in controlling infections.
Due to regular need to replace hospital equipment, the use of these budgets and costs will
prevent constraints (Gaudine, 2011). Since there is no cure for COVID 19, these budgets are
essential in containing and preventing further spread of the virus hence protecting the community
and the workers.
3. Lastly, as we finish the term, what aha moment(s) and 3 key learnings have you had
about the leader you are today and the leader you are becoming?
The aha moment I had was on comprehending the difference the RN, RPN and PSW.
Understanding that nurses are accountable for knowing and understanding the role of team
members is a revelation to me. One key learning I have had about the leader I am today and the
leader I am becoming is that I team work. Another key learning is that I like to inspire other
people. The last key learning is that I am resilient and I have a positive attitude.
References
Food and Drug Administation (2020)/ Personal Protective Equipment for Infection Control/
retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/general-hospital-devices-and-
supplies/personal-protective-equipment-infection-control
Gaudine., A. (2011). Nursing leadership and management: Working in Canadian healthcare
organizations. Pearson.

Week 12 notes