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Unit 2 IP
Introduction
Interviewing successful nurse leaders may provide valuable information that helps new graduates to gradually learn leadership skills that can make them effective in their roles. Leadership through benchmarking enables upcoming leaders to identify the strengths and weaknesses of successful leaders, including the characteristics that they can emulate to be successful (Willmington 139). Nurses are also able to learn the challenges that nurse leaders face as they execute their functions and the strategies that they often implement to address those challenges.
Demographic Information
The demographic information of the interviewed nurse is as follows; Mary Ann Sinisi CNIV Cardiac, Thoracic, Hepatobiliary, Pulmonary, Transplant and Procurement 30 years for CT, the rest for over 20 years Meh_anne0208@yahoo.com 310-488-7637. She has an Associate Degree and works at a level 1 trauma hospital. The hospital has employees from diverse cultural backgrounds including Hispanics, whites, and Vietnamese. It serves the uninsured, insured, and homeless population.
Leadership Position
Mary Ann is a Service coordinator for a number of healthcare services offered by her organization. She is responsible for team building, managing and assessing employee skills, maintenance of preference cards and supplies, notifying representatives for specific cases, handling complaints or questions, assessing the needs of surgeons/departments, and collaborating with higher management. Mary Ann has helped her organization to achieve great success since she occupied her current leadership position.
Leadership Style
Mary Ann keeps things organized and shares projects, information, and updates with team members via text or emails. The team knows what the nurse leader does and the team members are reliable to make informed decisions in my absence. She is always open to suggestions and willing to answer any questions or concerns. The answers may not be what the followers want to hear but she is fair in her decisions. The nurse leader also fosters teamwork and free thinking. She encourages team members to seek promotion if fitting. When demonstrating her leadership style, Mary Ann is always keen to ensure that her decisions promote team cohesion and improve organizational performance.
Mary Ann’s leadership style fits well with the democratic leadership style discussed in Unit 1. Leaders who utilize the democratic leadership style lead by example. They value their followers, listen to them, and give them an opportunity to express their opinions and concerns (Fakhri 804). Although they encourage the participation of their followers in decision-making, democratic leaders always make the final ruling. One crucial element of the democratic leadership style that distinguishes it from other leadership approaches is the leader’s power to make the final ruling. Such a ruling may or may not be aligned with the followers’ opinions (Fakhri 804).
According to Mary Ann, her leadership style has significantly improved over the years. After serving as a nurse leader for so many years, she does not feel the need to prove what she can do. She has always been in control of her temper and can convey a difficult message without being offensive or disrespectful. Time and situations have helped her see things from someone else’s point of view and she can better share with others her perspective on things. Emotional intelligence is a key element that promotes health leadership effectiveness. Teame et al. reported that emotional intelligence is positively associated with leadership effectiveness in healthcare institutions (540).
Mary Ann adequately recognizes the positive association between emotional intelligence and leadership intelligence and this is clearly evident in her ability to control her temper and manage difficult situations without being disrespectful and offensive.
Experience with a Change Management Project
Mary Ann admits that she has had a positive experience with change management projects, including the implementation of the change and the evaluation of the change. She indicates that recently, they have been made responsible for FCOT (First Case On Time) and TOT (Turn Over Time). Weekly are meetings held with their Operating Room Manager and recently with the Operating Room Director. The nurse leader has shared the monthly data with the surgeons and discussed some issues with pre-operative and clinic coordinators to collaboratively find ways to improve FCOT and TOT. These experiences will have a great influence on the leader’s behaviors now and in the future.
Obstacles that a Nurse Leader May Face
Nurse leaders usually face numerous obstacles and challenges when implementing change. During the interview, the nurse leader reports that some of the obstacles encountered during change implementation include case scheduling accuracy, anesthesia set-up, transport delays, not having enough ancillary staff, and hard to facilite TOT. Inadequate staff and the lack of training of available human resources may hinder successful change implementation in healthcare organizations. Therefore, when assessing organizational readiness for change, nurse leaders should ensure that they have adequate staff and organize training for them to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills (Fowe 215). The nurse leader further mentions the greatest challenges that she faces as a nurse leader in contemporary healthcare settings. She reports that the culture of nursing has changed. The younger nurses prioritize work-life balance and are not as committed to their job as the old nurses. The quest to do more is dying, believing the saying ‘the more you do the more you will do.’ New staff can now refuse an assignment but the older staff cannot. Recruiting for high acuity services like Cardiac and Endovascular is hard without any promise of more pay. However, it is the responsibility of the nurse leader to ensure that tasks are accomplished and that organizational operations continue without any interruptions.
Leadership Skills Used to Mentor a New Nurse Leader
The nurse leader relies on her leadership style to mentor a new nurse leader. She keeps things organized and shares projects, information, and updates with the mentee. Additionally, she helps the mentee understand what she does while remaining open to suggestions and willing to answer any questions or concerns. The nurse leader is committed to teaching new nurse leaders what she practices and it is up to that person to make any changes as they see fit.
The Value of a Mentor
Mary Ann believes that a mentor is of great value in the life of an upcoming nurse leader. Ann reports that while learning cardiac surgery, the coordinator would frequently check with her about how her orientation was going. Her mentor also showed her what her responsibilities were. When her mentor went on vacation 6 months into her being in the Cardiac team, she left her to be in charge of the service in her absence. The experience had a positive outcome and this is why she practices her current leadership style.
What to Look For in a Mentor
I would look for some specific characteristics if I were in a new nurse leader position. Some of these characteristics include the ability to provide career guidance, the ability to create networking opportunities, and the demonstration of emotional intelligence (Newsome 2274). Additionally, a good mentor should demonstrate cultural competence as he or she works with mentees from different cultural backgrounds.
Conclusion
Based on the interview and the lessons learned thus far, the nurse leader met during the interview applies an effective leadership style. Her leadership style has enhanced her relationship with team members and has promoted organizational success. Due to her effective leadership style, the nurse leader is able to mentor new nurse leaders preparing them to be successful leaders in the future.
Works Cited
Fakhri, Mahendra et al. “Democratic leadership practice to construct clan organizational culture in family companies.” Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business, vol. 8, issue 1, 803-811. 14 Dec. 2020, doi:10.13106/jafeb.2021.
Fowe, Ibukun E. “Evaluating Organizational Readiness for Change in the Implementation of Telehealth and mobile Health Interventions for Chronic Disease Management.” AMIA Joint Summits on Translational Science Proceedings. AMIA Joint Summits on Translational Science vol. 2021 210-219. 17 May. 2021
Newsome, Andrea Sikora et al. “Kindling the fire: The power of mentorship.” American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : Official Journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists vol. 78,24 (2021): 2271-2276. doi:10.1093/ajhp/zxab295
Teame, Kiros et al. “Healthcare leadership effectiveness among managers in Public Health institutions of Addis Ababa, Central Ethiopia: a mixed methods study.” BMC Health Services Research vol. 22,1 540. 22 Apr. 2022, doi:10.1186/s12913-022-07879-6
Willmington, Claire et al. “The contribution of benchmarking to quality improvement in healthcare. A systematic literature review.” BMC Health Services Research vol. 22,1 139. 2 Feb. 2022, doi:10.1186/s12913-022-07467-8
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Hey Tyler, I am happy to hear from you
Biological Basis for Psychotherapy
I agree with your post that psychotherapy has a biological basis an opinion that is supported by nursing publications. Individuals that go through psychotherapy experience a change in the manner the brain works. It results in a change in the structure and functioning of the synaptic pathways in the brain. Studies also indicate that psychotherapy results in changes, which rely on epigenetic modifications (Jimenez et al., 2018). Psychotherapy allows for the reconfiguration of the neural systems, which allows for better adaptation among patients.
Impact of Culture, Religion, and Social-economic Factors on Psychotherapy
Culture, religion, and social-economic factors impact psychotherapy’s value on patients. Religion and culture define people’s beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and way of life. Therefore, individuals that have been exposed to negative beliefs and perceptions about psychotherapy are not likely to seek the treatment or better still benefit from the sessions. Some cultural and religious beliefs may stigmatize mental health issues, therefore, discouraging patients from seeking treatment. Better still, due to impaired thoughts and opinions, patients and therapists may face communication issues attributed to poor interpretations and the inability to express themselves well. Patients from the low-income social classes may shy away from seeking psychotherapy due to financial constraints and the lack of medical insurance.
Ethical and Legal Issues
Ethical and legal issues affecting psychotherapy are likely to be distinct to the patients. Group therapy is likely to face issues touching on privacy and confidentiality while family therapy may face issues on communication and conflicts of interests among the family members. In individual therapy, the patient may only require assurance from the therapist on professionalism and the maintenance of privacy and confidentiality to safeguard the patient’s dignity and welfare (Darby & Weinstock, 2018). The therapist should put in place measures to curb ethical and legal issues, which could interfere with the achievement of the set goals and expectations. She/he should provide a safe environment for the patients and avail consent forms to bind the patients to maintain privacy and confidentiality.
References
Darby, W. C., & Weinstock, R. (2018). The Limits of Confidentiality: Informed Consent and Psychotherapy. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 16(4), 395–401. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180020
Jiménez, J. P., Botto, A., Herrera, L., Leighton, C., Rossi, J. L., Quevedo, Y., Silva, J. R., Martínez, F., Assar, R., Salazar, L. A., Ortiz, M., Ríos, U., Barros, P., Jaramillo, K., & Luyten, P. (2018). Psychotherapy and Genetic Neuroscience: An Emerging Dialog. Frontiers in genetics, 9, 257. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00257