Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management

Leadership Are You Ready to Be a Leader? You may be thinking, “I’m just beginning my career in nursing. How can I be expected to be a leader now?” This is an important question. You will need time to refine your clinical skills and learn how to function in a new environment. But you can begin to assume some leadership functions right away within your new nursing roles. In fact, leadership should be seen as a dimension of nursing practice (Scott & Miles, 2013). Consider the following example: Billie Thomas was a new staff nurse at Green Valley Nursing Care Center. After orientation, she was assigned to a rehabilitation unit with high ad￾mission and discharge rates. Billie noticed that admissions and discharges were assigned rather hap￾hazardly. Anyone who was “free” at the moment was directed to handle them. Sometimes, unlicensed as￾sistant personnel were directed to admit or discharge residents. Billie believed that this was inappropriate because they are not prepared to do assessments and they had no preparation for discharge planning. Billie had an idea how discharge planning could be improved but was not sure that she should bring it up because she was so new. “Maybe they’ve already thought of this,” she said to a former classmate. They began to talk about what they had learned in their leadership course before graduation. “I just keep hearing our instructor saying, ‘There’s only one manager, but anyone can be a leader.’ ” “If you want to be a leader, you have to act on your idea. Why don’t you talk with your nurse manager?” her friend asked. “Maybe I will,” Billie replied. Billie decided to speak with her nurse manager, an experienced rehabilitation nurse who seemed not 3663_Chapter 1_0003-0016.indd 3 3663_Chapter 1_0003-0016.indd 3 9/15/2014 4:36:35 PM 9/15/2014 4:36:35 PM Process Cyan Process CyanProcess Magenta Process MagentaProcess Yellow Process YellowProcess Black Process Black 4 unit 1 ■ Professional Considerations only approachable but also open to new ideas. “I have been so busy getting our new electronic health record system on line before the surveyors come that I wasn’t paying attention to that,” the nurse manager told her. “I’m glad you brought it to my attention.” Billie’s nurse manager raised the issue at the next executive meeting, giving credit to Billie for having brought it to her attention. The other nurse managers had the same response. “We were so focused on the new electronic health record system that we overlooked that. We need to take care of this situation as soon as possible. Billie Thomas has leadership potential.”