Reflection 2 - Research Paper Example

In my particular case, for the past ten years, I have worked as an Instructor and Instructor Trainer of Basic Life Support (BLS) among other courses for a company owned by Jose, RN-EMT, a Florida Region American Heart Association Community Training Center (CTC) Faculty Coordinator. Jose, RN-EMT continues to limit his communication process to utilizing email with Nurse Instructors. Indeed, this communication strategy is quite good but in order to promote effective communication, there is need for improvement of this system.

For instance, verbal communication through telephones and video conferencing can also act as viable strategies that can improve the communication between the parties involved. As Nurse Instructors, I think there should be more open communication channels in order to operate effectively. This enables us to create mutual understanding with different people we will be dealing with in our operations. A critical analysis of Nancy Blake and Colleen Young (2013) article title “How to Be an Effective Charge Nurse: Excellent communication skills, flexibility, clinical competency, and ability to make quick decisions required” shows that there are various traits that an individual should possessed in order to be an effective charge nurse.

Blake and Young (2013, p.1) affirms, “The role of a charge nurse is unpredictable. It requires a person with excellent communication skills who is flexible, clinically competent and able to make decisions quickly.” In most cases, charge nurses function as liaison between middle management, staff, physicians, patients and families among other groups. Charge nurses deal with different people in their tasks hence, the reason for them to possess effective communication and leadership skills. According to Blake and Young (2013, p.1), “An effective charge nurse needs to incorporate leadership and communication skills with conflict resolution, time management and organizational techniques, delegation, mentorship, education, and role modelling to be successful.

” These characteristics are very important in as far as the effectiveness of charge nurses in dispensing their duties is concerned. This notion is supported by Grossman and Valiga (2009), who state “Leadership and followership are two separate concepts that are complementary or reciprocal, not competitive”(p. 36).  This also goes hand in hand with the aspect of culture which shapes the behavior of the employees in each department. According to Hawkins & Kratsch (2004), each unit has a culture that shapes the behavior of the people working there.

  It is therefore the role of the leader to foster this culture, thus positively influence the other members to improve their performance. Non verbal communication is also important in order Aspects such as body language, facial expressions as well as tone have an impact on the way communication is carried out. The article also states that charge nurses should be good in delegating certain tasks to their followers in order to achieve quality patient care. One important role played by the charge nurse is to solve conflicts among the followers.

This is not a very simple task since it requires someone with good communication skills in order to create mutual understanding among the warring parties. Overall, Blake and Young