Journaling provides a valuable tool for recording, reflecting on, and reviewing your learning. This approach provides an opportunity for you to \”connect the dots\” and observe the relationships between and among activities, interactions, and outcomes.
Unlike a personal journal of thoughts and feelings, this leadership journal is a record of your activities, assessments, and learning related to this academic experience.
Journal entries should include a record of the number of hours spent with your nurse leader each week.
Write a journal entry of 750-1,500 words on the subject of serving, including the following:
Practicum Activities Reflection: Provide observations and thoughts on the activities in your practicum setting during Weeks 10 & 11.
Application of Leadership: Identify three to five personal values or characteristics that you believe are critical components of a good leader, such as honesty, compassion, or fairness. How do you express those values in your professional life?
Practicum Project Preparation: Create an evaluation and adjustment plan for the practicum project.
Leadership Video Reflection: Reflect on at least two things you learned from the \”Servant Leadership – Issue of Example\” video.
Use the \”Leadership Journal Template\” to complete this assignment.
APA style is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Leadership Journal
Name:
Weeks Covering:
Preceptor/Mentor:
Clinical/Practicum Site:
Hours Worked (past 2 weeks):___
Total Hours: ____/150 total of all hours worked up to this point
Practicum Activities Reflection:
Activities at the practicum site during weeks 10 and 11 mainly revolved around working in teams and reviewing case reports. My preceptor has been guiding us to work in teams to resolve patient problems. Teamwork and collaboration are among the key competencies that nursing graduates are required to possess after completing their programs (QSEN Institute, 2020). The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute define teamwork and collaboration as the ability to perform nursing roles effectively within interprofessional teams through engagement in shared decision-making, demonstrating mutual respect, and fostering open communication to ensure that patients receive quality care. I must admit that I learned a lot from working in groups with other nurses and students at the practicum site during the period.
The nurse leader also provided students who were completing their practicum with case reports which we reviewed together during weeks 10 and 11. Case reports are documents designed in accordance with the CARE guidelines and that present scientific observations which nurses often encounter in practice (Alsaywid & Abdulhaq, 2019). Reviewing case reports greatly enhanced my understanding of the best way to approach patients’ problems. It also provided an opportunity for me to learn how to optimize patient care.
Application of Leadership:
A good leader should possess values that will promote unity among team members and motivate them to perform their roles effectively. The five personal values that I believe a nurse leader should possess include honesty, transparency, compassion, fairness, and effective communication. An honest and transparent leader will always maintain truth when executing his or her functions. Honesty and transparency foster positive relationships with team members a factor that helps to address burnout in clinical settings (Brenner et al., 2022). A good leader should show compassion to his or her followers by understanding their needs and demonstrating readiness to address them. Although healthcare organizations usually employ candidates who they believe to have the competencies and skills that they require to perform effectively on the job, it is worthwhile noting that employees have weaknesses that should be filled. By showing compassion, a good leader will be able to accommodate everyone in the team and provide opportunities to help them grow and improve (Harrel et al., 2021). The importance of fairness as a leadership attribute cannot be overlooked owing to the fact that today’s leaders work with people from diverse backgrounds. Fairness guides a leader to exercise inclusion and avoid practicing favoritism and discrimination towards both patients and employees. Such a leader understands that all employees should be allowed equal access to job promotion opportunities (Azar, 2021). Effective communication goes together with good listening skills when evaluating good leadership characteristics. A good leader should listen to his or her followers’ concerns and apply effective communication approaches to address them (Jankelová & Joniaková, 2021). Effective communication also allows sharing of ideas regarding matters that are pertinent to effective organizational performance.
I often express the values described above in my professional life as a nurse. For instance, since I engage with nurses and patients from diverse cultural backgrounds, I always express fairness to make everyone feel included and cared for. I always strive to remain honest and transparent in my deeds by practicing accountability and taking responsibility for my actions. This has helped me to create strong relationships with colleagues and patients at my places of work (Brenner et al., 2022). I express compassion and effective communication in my daily interaction with patients and colleagues. By showing compassion, I strive to support both patients and nurses to attain personal growth (Harrel et al., 2021). Effective communication helps me to address workplace challenges and promote team cohesion and unity.
Practicum Project Preparation:
Conducting project evaluation following successful implementation helps the project team to establish whether the intervention is yielding the desired results. Adjustments to the original project plan are made when actual results contradict the expected outcomes (Chow et al., 2021). Evaluation of my practicum project will begin after the successful implementation of the intervention. However, brief evaluations will be conducted on crucial project elements as the project moves from one stage to another. Carnahan et al. (2020) emphasize the importance of evaluating inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes before embarking on the assessment of programmatic outcomes.
Leadership Video Reflection:
A servant leader is able to guide followers in the right direction by acting as a role model. In the “Servant Leadership – The Issue of Example” video, Darryl explains how a servant leader can inspire followers by leading by example. From the video, I have learned that leading by example plays an important role in inspiring followers to perform their expected roles in an organization. Employees will be motivated to practice certain actions when they see their leader practicing them. The other lesson that I have learned is that servant leaders develop integrity by meaning what they say and doing what they promise. It is by practicing such behaviors that they will be able to exert powerful influence among their followers.
References
Alsaywid, B. S., & Abdulhaq, N. M. (2019). Guideline on writing a case report. Urology Annals, 11(2), 126–131. https://doi.org/10.4103/UA.UA_177_18.
Azar K. (2021). The evolving role of nurse leadership in the fight for health equity. Nurse Leader, 19(6), 571–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2021.08.006.
Brenner, M. J., Hickson, G. B., Boothman, R. C., Rushton, C. H., & Bradford, C. R. (2022). Honesty and transparency, indispensable to the clinical mission-part III: How leaders can prevent burnout, foster wellness and recovery, and instill resilience. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 55(1), 83–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.otc.2021.08.004.
Carnahan, E., Gurley, N., Asiimwe, G., Chilundo, B., Duber, H. C., Faye, A., Kamya, C., Mpanya, G., Nagasha, S., Phillips, D., Salisbury, N., Shearer, J., Shelley, K., & Gavi Full Country Evaluations Consortium; and Global Fund Prospective Country Evaluation Consortium (2020). Lessons learned from implementing prospective, multicountry mixed-methods evaluations for Gavi and the Global Fund. Global Health, Science and Practice, 8(4), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00126.
Chow, T. C., Zailani, S., Rahman, M. K., Qiannan, Z., Bhuiyan, M. A., & Patwary, A. K. (2021). Impact of sustainable project management on project plan and project success of the manufacturing firm: Structural model assessment. PloS One, 16(11), e0259819. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259819.
Harrel, E., Berland, L., Jacobson, J., & Addiss, D. G. (2021). Compassionate leadership: Essential for the future of tropical medicine and global health. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 105(6), 1450–1452. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.21-0832.
Jankelová, N., & Joniaková, Z. (2021). Communication skills and transformational leadership style of first-line nurse managers in relation to job satisfaction of nurses and moderators of this relationship. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(3), 346. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030346.
QSEN Institute. (2020). QSEN competencies. https://qsen.org/competencies/pre-licensure-ksas/.