Educating for Leadership - Article Example

The essay aims to review the article “Educating for Leadership: A programme designed to build a responsive health care culture”. Primarily, the discourse would address the following issues, to wit: (1) to review the topic on the leadership programme for nurses; (2) to state the purpose of the article; (3) to summarize the article; and finally (4) to analyze the information pertaining to the leadership/management development. This essay aims to review the article “Educating for Leadership: A programme designed to build a responsive health care culture” (Paterson, Henderson & Trivella, 2010). The article is about the leadership programme provided to nurses early on in their careers. It discusses the relevance of such a programme and its positive effects on the nurses, the patients and the workplace as a whole. The article emphasized the importance of leadership in the professional development of nurses. It indicated that improved leadership behaviours of nurses lead to improved quality in patient care, better interpersonal relationships, dynamic decision-making capabilities and an over-all development in their professional skills. The article is about instituting a leadership programme in a healthcare environment. It has identified the problem of nurses lacking opportunities to practice leadership skills in schools. It recognized the current practice of preparing nurses for leadership roles only when they have been appointed to formal leadership positions. The leadership programme being espoused in the article aims to progressively develop the leadership skills of nurses early in their careers. Implicit here is that it is a long-term programme and that leadership skills are not acquired overnight but can be developed through time. There is a need to have this programme because leadership quality impacts the quality of patient care and staff satisfaction. Various literatures cited in the article point this out. Studies have shown the relationship between good nursing leadership and good quality nursing care (Cook & Leathard, 2004 cited by Paterson, et al., 2010). Moreover, constructive leadership behaviours lead to increased patient satisfaction, reductions in patient adverse events and decreased complications in various care settings (Wong & Cummings, 2007 cited by Paterson, et al, 2010). Kleinman (2004 cited by Paterson, et al., 2010) claimed that effective nursing leadership resulted in staff retention. With good nurse leaders, the quality of both patient care and patient and staff satisfaction improves (Heller et al., 2004 cited by Paterson, et al, 2010). The leadership programme described in the article was instituted at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Australia, one of the leading hospitals in teaching and research. This hospital employs over 5,000 personnel of which 2,500 are nursing staff. The programme was comprised of two parts namely, the emerging leader and the developing leader. The emerging leader was designed to foster the acquisition of the beginning leadership skills. The emerging leader workshop is done within the graduate year of the registered nurses. Among the topics included in this workshop are the principles of learning and teaching, performance assessment and conflict management. This workshop has to be completed before the participants can go to the next level of the developing leader. The developing leader workshop consists of personal, interpersonal and professional leadership skills. The personal leadership activities are targeted at developing trust and increasing self-esteem. Interpersonal leadership on the other hand, aspires to develop the nurses’ abilities to work effectively with a team and providing them with feedback with regards to their performance. The professional leadership skills are more concerned with various management tools such as introducing changes in the work environment, identifying problem areas and proposing solutions to the problems. The developing leader programme is evaluated through the formative and summative evaluation process. The formative evaluation is done after each workshop to address the administrative issues such as time and resource allocations. The summative evaluation is done by the participants themselves before and after the programme. The participants answer questions on their personal and interpersonal capabilities as well as their intellectual capacities. This self-assessment tool is necessary so that the nurses can ascertain the impact of the programme on their leadership qualities. Although this programme was done in a hospital in Australia, the concepts do apply too in hospitals not only in Australia but in other countries including the United States, where health care is a major concern. There is now a greater realization that nurses need managerial and leadership skills to deliver quality nursing care. Another idea presented in the article is that of transformational leadership which is applicable to nursing. Transformational leaders are said to motivate their followers through the use of charisma, empowerment of the subordinates, open communication and shared decision-making. With these types of leaders, the nurses’ self-esteem is transcended into a higher level making them more effective in their profession. The whole idea in this article is that there is a need for nurses to undergo a leadership training programme. The authors believe that this should be done at an earlier stage of the nurses’ career and not only when the need arises. Developing a nurse’s leadership skills early on will make them ready to face the challenges in several aspects such as patient care and hospital administration. The health care environment today is more demanding. It does not stop at simply providing patient care. Nurses, being front-line workers have to be more flexible and must be able to take action if need be. This can only be done if they have the necessary skills in decision-making, team management and leadership. Nurses should at least be provided with these basic skills and it is only through the proper programmes implemented by the health organizations that they can be assisted. Training does not end in one workshop alone. It is a never-ending process. Hospital administrators must strive to develop on-going programmes aimed at developing and further improving the leadership skills of its nurses. As mentioned in the article, leadership needs to occur at all levels. It is not exclusive to hospital administrators. Nurses need leadership programs. If they become better leaders, patients benefit and the whole health care environment will benefit too. Nurses play an important role in providing health care. Health care is a major concern for any society. Improving the health care environment means improving the qualities and capabilities of health care providers such as nurses. Leadership is one of the skills that nurses must possess in order to offer good quality nursing care; thus, it is the responsibility of health care organizations to take the initiative in giving nurses the necessary leadership programmes. Reference Paterson, K., Henderson, A., & Trivella, A. (2010). Educating for leadership: A Programmed designed to build a responsive health care culture. Journal of Nursing Management, 18, 78-83. Read More