Before enrolling in the RN-BSN program at WCU, my perception of nursing leadership and management roles was very limited, as I viewed managing positions as distant and authoritarian at its core. However, with the introduction of the nurse management role in patient care during classes, I learnt a multitude of different managing models in the practice, where little emphasis is put on the authority. Though initially aware of the basics of Lewin’s change theory, such as unfreezing, moving, and refreezing stage (Nilsen, 2015), I was not knowledgeable enough to recognize the driving and resistant forces in my personal practice.
Now I understand that the biggest driving force for me is my shift manager who pushes me to change in terms of improved time management and better work ethics. My attitudes also evolved in the context of communication conflict: while earlier, I viewed conflict as essentially negative at a workplace, now I understand the causes of constructive conflict and its benefits for the team.
In my practice, I support transformational and servant leadership models among nurses. As explained by Fakhr-Movahedi, Rahnavard, Salsali, and Negarandeh (2016), the communication technique in the transformational model of leadership relies on the creation of vision when the system is in need of big changes and improvements. In the patient-centered care, it contributes to the overarching process of global thinking about the improved healthcare quality on the whole rather than focusing on one specific segment in the industry.
On the other hand, nurses as servant leaders strive to meet individual goals of the patients, putting emphasis on one patient rather than a group of people with the same disease (Fakhr-Movahedi et al., 2016). I believe that in combination, these two models provide a reliable paradigm which allows nursing practitioners to shift between short-term and long-lasting goals.
As learned throughout the course, the image of highly qualified nurse includes a multitude of values, skills, and attitudes. Apart from being professional in the chosen specialty area, the nursing practitioner should be an empathic, active listener who masters the art of comforting and emotional support (Fakhr-Movahedi et al., 2016). A nurse should be a life-term learner who continues to enrich one’s knowledge in relationship to the current research. People-oriented altruist, a healthcare professional should value kindness, reliability, responsibility, and trust, being accessible and helpful to all the patients regarding of their cultural and social background.
In my opinion, I met the aforementioned program essential of promoting the image of nursing satisfactorily. Both in the academic setting and real-world job, I applied the concepts learned to model my behavior as a nurse care provider to impact those around me. In the academic experience, I fulfilled the criteria by participating in the training sessions, writing reflections, and presenting on the topic to my peers.
In the real-world scenario, I will promote the nursing image through my everyday practice by demonstrating empathy, active listening, and responsibility as I serve as a nurse. This level of proficiency will not only be a significant factor in my future employment process but also a definitive indicator of my professionalism as a nurse. As a servant leader, my main objective is to meet needs and wants of the patients for the improved physical and mental health through the application of the earlier described model of values and attitudes.
References
Fakhr-Movahedi, A., Rahnavard, Z., Salsali, M., & Negarandeh, R. (2016). Exploring nurse’s communicative role in nurse-patient relations: A qualitative study. Journal of Caring Sciences, 5(4), 267–276. Web.
Nilsen P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation Science, 10, 53-60. Web.