Interview Report: Qualities and Characteristics of a Nurse Leader

This report presents an interview with a nurse leader working in a mental health unit, exploring the qualities and characteristics essential for effective nursing leadership. The interview covers various aspects, including the role of nurses within inter-professional teams, changes in nursing practice due to evidence-based practice, and the challenges faced in mental healthcare, particularly when caring for elderly patients with dementia or depression. The nurse leader discusses the aspects of her job that she enjoys the most, the reasons she chose nursing as a profession, and her previous experiences in different nursing fields. The report also examines the organization's culture, the nurse's role in staffing decisions, and her leadership style, which is described as a combination of transformational and affiliative leadership. The report highlights the importance of qualities such as effective communication, critical analysis, commitment to lifelong learning, and the ability to work collaboratively in achieving enhanced patient care and fostering a positive work environment.

Running Head: QUALITIES OF A NURSE LEADER
Qualities of a Nurse Leader
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1Qualities of a Nurse Leader
Nursing is considered as one of the most dynamic profession which requires assertive and
confident. A good nursing leader is considered as someone who inspire other care workers to
work their best in order to achieve goal. There are certain traits such as effective communication
skill, critical analyzing ability, commitment towards lifelong learning, ability to work in
collaboration which a nurse leader should have (Barr & Dowding, 2019). The primary goal of
the nurse leader is to educate or enhance the knowledge of the nursing students in order to
enhance the patient care. The character of the nursing leader which inspire other staff includes
courage, initiative, integrity and capacity to handle stress. This assignment focusses on the
interview that has been conducted with a nursing leader who has been working in mental health
unit. The essay includes the interview report of the conducted interview.
The interview has been conducted in an ABC organization (pseudonym) with the nurse
leader X (pseudonym). She has been working in a mental health unit and take care of the patient
who has been suffering from mental health issue.
In the interview, X has been asked about the nursing and the inter-professional teams
which operates in the unit and in the health care setting. The nurse replied, “Nursing is one of the
noblest profession which aims to provide better care to the patient. In our health care setting, we
work as a team. To achieve enhanced patient care, different health care specialist such as,
general practitioner, dietician, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, consultant and other health care
staff.” By considering the answer of the nurse, it can be analysed that primary aim of the nursing
is to enhance the patient care and to speed the recovery process. As the nurse leader works in a
mental health care unit, different specialist that help to enhance the mental and physical
wellbeing of the patient includes, general practitioner, dietician, physiotherapy, psychotherapy,
consultant and other health care staff. The nurse was asked about the changes that has been

2Qualities of a Nurse Leader
occurred in the nursing practice based on the evidence based practice (Fallatah, Laschinger &
Read, 2017). According to the nurse leader, “Implementation of the electronic based data
recording system is the most recent and broad change observed in the nursing practice”.
Implementation of the electronic based recording is the one of the most recent changes observed
in the nursing practice. According to Kuhn et al., (2015), the electronic data health recording
system is considered to improve the patient care by more effective monitoring and the treatment
of the mental patient. The electronic data health recording system made the documentation easier
as compared to the manual documentation as well as it also helps in minimizing the medical
errors which is more often observed in the case of manual documentation. The electronic data
health recording system also helps in enhancing the recovery process. The nurse supervisor is
then asked about the biggest challenge that they face during their nursing practice to which she
replied, “Working in mental healthcare unit is already considered as one of the biggest
challenge. However, taking care of the older individual who had been suffering from dementia
or depression is the biggest challenge. The nurse has to be with them 24 hours in order to
provide effective care to them”. As discussed with the nurse it can be stated that, handling a
patient who has been suffering from mental illness is extremely difficult. They cannot take care
of themselves and hence in order to provide better care to them, a twenty four hours nurse is
required. As in the case of geriatric patient, who has been suffering from dementia or depression,
they even forgets to take their medicine on time (Abraha et al., 2017). If the medicine and other
treatment is not provided on time, the health of the patient might get further deteriorated. Hence,
in order to provide effective treatment to them, it is extremely important that there are adequate
healthcare staff which can take care of them. To perform a job efficiently, it is important to love
your job. In this context, the nurse was asked about that “What is there is the job which she love

3Qualities of a Nurse Leader
the most?”. The nurse stated that, “Being a supervisor it is my responsibility to provide best care
and treatment to the patient. Apart from that, I also have to monitor the treatment provided to
the patient by the other healthcare staff. Though it is a tiring job, the pleasure I get after the
recovery of the patient and after understanding that they are free from their pain is the part
which I love the most about my job.” By considering the statement of the nurse leader, it can be
stated that nursing is a noble profession. It is the responsibility of the nurse, to provide enhanced
care and treatment to the patient who has been suffering from mental health illness. Apart from
taking care of the patient, there are other roles of the nurse which they have to perform such as
monitoring the treatment of the patient provided by other healthcare staff and the leader also
have a role in encouraging the students to provide better care and treatment according to the need
of the patient. However managing all this can be really tiring for a nurse sometime but it is
important for the nurse to take appropriate care of the patient (Johansson et al., 2017). According
to the nurse X, the happiness which is observed in the face of the patient after treatment inspires
them to perform their job efficiently. Each and every individual has some reason for choosing
and continuing the job. The supervisor was asked for the reason they chose nursing as their
profession. The nurse said, “Nursing is a noble profession which helps in the people who are
suffering from illness and need help of the professional to lead a standard life. I chose nursing
as I want to help those people, especially the people who are suffering from mental illness and it
is also one of the most demanding job which helps an individual to grow personally as well as
professionally”. Nursing is one of the most demanding job in the market. According to Aspinall
and Chinouya, (2016), by 2023, around 330,000 nurses will be there. They have a huge demand
in the healthcare sector in order to enhance the patient care. It helps the individual to acquire new
skill such as, communication, supporting which helps an individual to grow personally as well as

4Qualities of a Nurse Leader
professionally. Along with it, it is a challenging job which provides help to the individual who
are in need or is suffering from an illness which inspires other to choose nursing as a profession.
The nurse was also asked about the other job or nursing field she has been worked on. X said
that, “I have started my career as a nurse. During my training periods, I was assigned to work
under a supervisor who used to take care of critical care unit. I had also worked in geriatric and
pediatric unit. I joined mental healthcare unit as a registered nurse and by gathering enough
knowledge and experience, I was appointed as nurse supervisor.” The nurse said that she has not
done any other kind of job apart from nursing. She has worked in critical care unit, geriatric
pediatric healthcare unit and also in the mental health care unit. Hence, she has gained enough
experience to work as a supervisor. The nurse leader is asked about the culture of their
organization to which she responded, “Our organization is one of the most renowned healthcare
organization. Our organization’s culture is to promote culture of safety both for patient and the
healthcare staff, culture of the wellness of an individual and also the patient centered culture”. A
quality health care organization is differentiated from other healthcare setting based on their
culture. The culture which is promoted in the ABC healthcare organization are culture of well
ness, safety and patient-centered. It helps the organization to maintain safety and wellness of the
patient and the healthcare staff. The patient-centered culture helps in providing the care and
treatment to the patient according to their need and preferences. After that the nurse was asked
about her role in the staffing decision to which she responded, “As a nurse, it is my responsibility
to provide effective treatment to the patient which can be done by adequate staffing of the nurse.
Hence I ensure that there are enough admission and staffing of the nurse which is required to
provide enhanced patient care”. Poor staffing leads to poor patient outcomes and adequate
staffing leads to enhanced patient outcomes. As it is the responsibility of the nurse to provide

5Qualities of a Nurse Leader
enhanced care, they have to monitor if there are enough staff or not. At last the nurse was asked
about her leadership style to which she answered, “I always try to encourage the nursing
students to give their best during patient treatment and hence follow transformational and
affiliative leadership style”. Transformational leadership style helps in encouraging the nurse to
provide their best for the better treatment of the patient and to encourage them, affiliative
leadership style can be used as it helps in forming an effective relation through communication
(Liukka, Hupli & Turunen, 2018).

6Qualities of a Nurse Leader
References:
Abraha, I., Rimland, J. M., Trotta, F. M., Dell'Aquila, G., Cruz-Jentoft, A., Petrovic, M., ... &
Cherubini, A. (2017). Systematic review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological
interventions to treat behavioural disturbances in older patients with dementia. The
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Aspinall, P. J., & Chinouya, M. J. (2016). Implications for Policy and Practice. In The African
Diaspora Population in Britain (pp. 221-237). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Barr, J., & Dowding, L. (2019). Leadership in health care. Sage Publications Limited.
Fallatah, F., Laschinger, H. K., & Read, E. A. (2017). The effects of authentic leadership,
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Kuhn, T., Basch, P., Barr, M., & Yackel, T. (2015). Clinical documentation in the 21st century:
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Liukka, M., Hupli, M., & Turunen, H. (2018). How transformational leadership appears in action
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