The question of leadership is one of the most urgent issues in current nursing care as there is a burning need for effective leaders to organize properly the professional and personal lives of society (Murray, 2004). In this paper, the article by Eric Harris and Kristen Maceli (2010) about health care management and change in leadership will be evaluated in order to comprehend better how to maintain strong nursing morale, direct nurses properly, and achieve professional goals with a minimum of losses and expenses. In this article, the authors focus on the idea of good communication between a leader and the nursing staff and define this principle as one of the most effective approaches to organizational change. The idea of communication seems to be rather important relying on personal experience and nursing practice. To provide patients with appropriate care and treatment, it is very important to develop professional leadership and promote definite communications to understand what has to be made, what decisions are more important, and what skills have to be considered.
The key point of the article under consideration is the evaluation of three types of communication: supervisors, co-workers, and the CEO (Harris & Maceli, 2010). Effective leadership in a particular medical organization is hard to develop without a thorough analysis and consideration of personal and professional needs. A good leader should take care of the needs of patients and workers in order to prove his/her professionalism and knowledge. Marquis and Huston (2008) define a number of requisites for leadership and management, still, the most important aspects are decision making and problem-solving processes which lead to job satisfaction. In the article, three aspects are considered: the openness of communication, job satisfaction, and job performance. This choice of the author may be easily justified by means of personal practice and methods used by the leader in certain situations.
For example, nursing duties are based on such points as time management, cooperation between workers, and understanding of the functions set. In case the leader fails to evaluate the problem, make a clear decision, and consider the demands of the staff, it will be hard to organize the work properly and achieve good results. Leadership requires time and analysis, and my leader is always guided by one principle that is communication with people and making the right decisions. By means of professional talk, it is possible to find out the shortages of the existed system and to make the necessary improvements. In case the system works well and nurses, as well as other representatives of the medical staff, are satisfied, there are more chances to provide patients with time and necessary care and treatment and save human lives. Human life is precious in medicine, and the leader should remember it all the time.
In general, the article by Harris and Maceli helps to understand how complicated still urgent the work of each leader is. Nursing care is an important part of medicine, and patients should be confident that they get the necessary portion of care and treatment. There are many ways of how professional leadership may be organized, and the chosen article should be considered as one of the significant steps to understand the true essence of nursing leadership as well as skills that have to be inherent to a real professional.
Reference List
Harris, E.G. & Maceli, K. (2010). The role of communication in nursing job satisfaction and performance following a significant change in leadership: implications for health care management. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators. Nashville, TN: Tennessee State University. 146-152.
Marquis, B.L. & Huston, C.J. (2008). Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Murray, J.P. (2004). Leadership in challenging times. Nursing Education Perspectives, 25(2), 54.