Elevating Nursing Leadership at the Bedside
Another organizational approach to elevating bedside leadership is to have formal leadership programs and make them available to nurses at all levels, not just at the management or executive level. For example, organizational development workshops should be made available to all staff to develop leadership competencies such as conflict resolution, being an effective communicator, creating an effective workplace, and career development planning. In the United States, several Magnet hospitals engage their bedside nurses in Clinical Ladder Programs (CLPs). CLPs are skill and competency-based and include four domains of practice, namely, clinical practice/case management at the point of service, quality, teamwork, and professional development" (p 503). The CLP encourages and nurtures the professional development and practice of nursing at the bedside; and leads to improvements in nurse-sensitive outcomes such as better pain management and reduction of falls. CLPs clearly show promise as an organization avenue from which to showcase and develop nurse leaders at the front-line.
In addition to formal programs such as those previously discussed, healthcare organizations could consider building in leadership concepts in their orientation programs for new nurses. Nursing has traditionally been a clinically focused, task-oriented profession and it is time that clinical roles are seen as on par and intertwined with leadership. These authors advocate for nursing orientation to give an introduction to the varied leadership opportunities available to nurses in order to strengthen leadership as an expectation of all nurses right from the start of employment.
As healthcare organizations face and prepare for the challenges of achieving quality patient care in a system fraught with fiscal restraints and workforce retention and recruitment demands, it is critical to elevate the leadership capabilities of bedside nurses as the future leaders. This is even more important in specialized areas like the NICU. Mentoring, formal leadership programs and leadership-informed orientations for nurses are some of the strategies that can help achieve these outcomes.
While those in formal nursing leadership roles offer systems leadership skills to manage and mentor, "we should never underestimate the inner leader of the bedside nurse that models and empowers change through their 'ways of knowing' and bringing personal, empirical, aesthetic and ethical knowledge and understanding to their individual practice and team collaboration exchanges." In order to harness and develop this level of leadership, an examination of micro-system strategies is critical. These can include enhanced and alternative leadership roles for bedside nurses, practicing to full scope, front-line accountability for quality patient metrics, and the role of the unit-level manager in supporting bedside nurses on their leadership journey.
Leadership Strategies
Another organizational approach to elevating bedside leadership is to have formal leadership programs and make them available to nurses at all levels, not just at the management or executive level. For example, organizational development workshops should be made available to all staff to develop leadership competencies such as conflict resolution, being an effective communicator, creating an effective workplace, and career development planning. In the United States, several Magnet hospitals engage their bedside nurses in Clinical Ladder Programs (CLPs). CLPs are skill and competency-based and include four domains of practice, namely, clinical practice/case management at the point of service, quality, teamwork, and professional development" (p 503). The CLP encourages and nurtures the professional development and practice of nursing at the bedside; and leads to improvements in nurse-sensitive outcomes such as better pain management and reduction of falls. CLPs clearly show promise as an organization avenue from which to showcase and develop nurse leaders at the front-line.
In addition to formal programs such as those previously discussed, healthcare organizations could consider building in leadership concepts in their orientation programs for new nurses. Nursing has traditionally been a clinically focused, task-oriented profession and it is time that clinical roles are seen as on par and intertwined with leadership. These authors advocate for nursing orientation to give an introduction to the varied leadership opportunities available to nurses in order to strengthen leadership as an expectation of all nurses right from the start of employment.
As healthcare organizations face and prepare for the challenges of achieving quality patient care in a system fraught with fiscal restraints and workforce retention and recruitment demands, it is critical to elevate the leadership capabilities of bedside nurses as the future leaders. This is even more important in specialized areas like the NICU. Mentoring, formal leadership programs and leadership-informed orientations for nurses are some of the strategies that can help achieve these outcomes.
While those in formal nursing leadership roles offer systems leadership skills to manage and mentor, "we should never underestimate the inner leader of the bedside nurse that models and empowers change through their 'ways of knowing' and bringing personal, empirical, aesthetic and ethical knowledge and understanding to their individual practice and team collaboration exchanges." In order to harness and develop this level of leadership, an examination of micro-system strategies is critical. These can include enhanced and alternative leadership roles for bedside nurses, practicing to full scope, front-line accountability for quality patient metrics, and the role of the unit-level manager in supporting bedside nurses on their leadership journey.
SHARE
