In this assignment, you will be writing a 1,000-1,250 word paper describing the differing approaches of nursing leaders and managers to issues in practice. To complete this assignment, do the following:
1. Select an issue from the following list: bullying, unit closers and restructuring, floating, nurse turnover, nurse staffing ratios, use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses), or magnet designation. Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management
2. Describe the selected issue. Discuss how it impacts quality of care and patient safety in the setting in which it occurs.
3. Discuss how professional standards of practice should be demonstrated in this situation to help rectify the issue or maintain professional conduct.
4. Explain the differing roles of nursing leaders and nursing managers in this instance and discuss the different approaches they take to address the selected issue and promote patient safety and quality care. Support your rationale by using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager described in your readings.
5. Discuss what additional aspects mangers and leaders would need to initiate in order to ensure professionalism throughout diverse health care settings while addressing the selected issue.
Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management
6. Describe a leadership style that would best address the chosen issue. Explain why this style could be successful in this setting.
Use at least three peer-reviewed journal articles other than those presented in your text or provided in the course.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management
Introduction
The selected issue is nursing turnover. Nurse turnover is the aspect of nursing staff leaving a healthcare organization or exiting the nursing profession (Dewanto & Viera, 2018). Nurse turnover is associated with a shortage of nurses. As Chen et al (2018) provide, it is projected that by the year 2025 the American healthcare system will have a shortage of about 260, 000 nurses. Moreover, healthcare organizations continue to report increasing nursing turnover. This shows the significance of nurse turnover. Factors associated with a high rate of nurse turnover encompass low job satisfaction, heavy workload, stressful work environment, low salary, and better career options. However, effective leadership skills and good management strategies have been demonstrated to lessen nurse turnover rate. This essay, therefore, explores how leadership skills and effective management strategies can be utilized in reducing the high rate of nurse turnover in healthcare organizations and the nursing profession.
Evidence shows that a high rate of nurse turnover has adverse effects on the organization; a high nurse turnover rate reduces the ability of a healthcare organization to provide high-quality care (Chen et al., 2018). High nurse turnover leads to the shortage of nursing staff; inadequate nurse-patient ration; heavy nursing workload; high burnout among the remaining nursing staff; and also, healthcare organizations lose skilled, competent, and experienced nursing staff. Labrague et al (2018) also add that a high rate of nurse turnover reduces the motivation, morale, and productivity of the nursing staff that remains in the organization. Moreover, the new nursing staff that is recruited after other nurses leave the organization might not meet the required standards because the new nursing staff needs orientation and adaptation to the procedures of the organization. According to Dewanto & Viera (2018), nurse turnover in a healthcare organization leads to ineffective communication and thus poor care coordination between the new nurses and the existing organizational staff. As aforementioned, a high rate of nurse turnover leads to staffing challenges such as loss of experienced, skilled, and competent nursing staff. Such staffing challenges hinder effective scheduling of nursing activities, in addition to causing heavy work lead and burnout among the nursing staff. All these factors may significantly contribute to reduced quality of care, compromise patient safety, and eventually lead to poor health outcomes.
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Evidence demonstrates that the management and leadership within an organization significantly affect the rate of nurse turnover in a healthcare organization. For example, when the nurse leaders use supportive and caring leadership strategies, this creates a supportive work environment and also motivates the nursing staff; this can significantly reduce turnover among the nursing staff. According to Asif et al (2019), leadership styles integrating supportive, motivational, and inspirational strategies such as transformational leadership style can assist in lowering the rate of nurse turnover in healthcare organizations. Participatory and shared leadership styles have also been shown to promote responsible decision-making and lead to better patient care in nursing units (Asif et al., 2019). Nurse leaders should use the appropriate leadership skill to maintain a good working relationship with their followers and keep the nursing staff motivated and interested to remain working in the organization.
Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management
The management in healthcare organizations is responsible for the recruitment of the nursing staff and also strongly influence nurse retention through aspects such as fair compensation, good work policies, and sharing of the work duties (Arabi et al., 2014). It is, therefore, necessary for the organizational leaders to use the appropriate managerial and leadership strategies to address issues such as work environment, work pressure, organizational policies, as well as compensation for the nursing staff. This is because these factors significantly influence job satisfaction and thus affecting turnover among the nursing staff. Additionally, the management and leadership in healthcare organizations should have effective problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills to effectively manage the nursing staff in their respective capacities (Joseph & Huber, 2015). Managers in healthcare organizations can acquire the required leadership and management skills through training and educational programs. This can the management with the appropriate skill in aspects such as human resource management, quality management, as well as financial management. The necessary managerial skills when it comes to problem-solving are self-efficacy skills (Joseph & Huber, 2015). The management can use the self-efficacy skills to do self-assessment and at the same time review the various needs of the nurses. Nurse managers should also be the front-line leaders who identify the best-practices likely to reduce high turnover for the nurses.
There are several leadership theories and skills that support the retention of nurses in healthcare organizations. Nurse leaders should possess effective leadership skills like good communication skills, collaboration skills, patient-centered care skills, and being influencers. Different leadership styles have different leadership skills. For example, leaders using a transformational leadership style tend to focus on creating a good working environment for the nursing staff, in addition to motivating, inspiring, and supporting them (Asif et al., 2019). On the other hand, the transactional leadership style focuses on using codes and organizational policies to manage the activities and tasks of the staff.
The transformational leadership style is the best-suited leadership style in a nursing setting, especially to reduce nurse turnover. Therefore, nurse leaders and managers can use the transformational leadership style to create a good work environment and support nurses through their practice (Asif et al., 2019). Moreover, leaders and the management can include nurses in decision making, and use strategies likely to motivate and inspire the nursing staff. This can make the nursing staff feel valued and motivated and thus encourage nurses to continue working in the organization; this ultimately lowers the turnover rate. Furthermore, as Weintraub & McKee (2019) explain, the healthcare setting continues to undergo constant changes and thus transformational leadership styles can be used to adapt to these changes through innovation. Finally, since stressful work environments and low job satisfaction are major factors contributing to a high rate of nurse turnover; the transformational leadership style is very suitable as it is effective in creating a good work environment and improving job satisfaction.
Conclusion
Nurse turnover is the rate at which nurses leave a healthcare organization or the nursing profession. Currently, the rate of nurse turnover is relatively high. Factors associated with a high rate of nurse turnover include low job satisfaction, heavy workload, and poor compensation. A high rate of nurse turnover had been shown to compromise patient safety and also lead to poor quality of care. Organizational leadership and management styles significantly influence the rate of nurse turnover. Therefore, the management and leadership need to use strategies that encourage nurses to stay within an organization and thus reduce the rate of nurse turnover.
References
Arabi, A., Rafii, F., Cheraghi, M. A., & Ghiyasvandian, S. (2014). Nurses’ policy influence: A concept analysis. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 19(3), 315–322.
Asif, M., Jameel, A., Hussain, A., Hwang, J., & Sahito, N. (2019). Linking Transformational Leadership with Nurse-Assessed Adverse Patient Outcomes and the Quality of Care: Assessing the Role of Job Satisfaction and Structural Empowerment. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(13), 2381. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16132381.
Chen H, Li G, Li M & Zhang T. (2018). A cross-sectional study on nurse turnover intention and influencing factors in Jiangsu Province, China. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 5(4), 396-402.
Dewanto A & Viera W. (2018). Nurse turnover and perceived causes and consequences: a preliminary study at private hospitals in Indonesia. BMC Nurs, 17(2), 52.
Joseph, M. L., & Huber, D. L. (2015). Clinical leadership development and education for nurses: prospects and opportunities. Journal of healthcare leadership, 7, 55–64. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S68071.
Labrague, L. J., McEnroe-Petitte, D. M., Tsaras, K., Cruz, J. P., Colet, P. C., & Gloe, D. S. (2018). Organizational commitment and turnover intention among rural nurses in the Philippines: Implications for nursing management. International journal of nursing sciences, 5(4), 403–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.09.001.
Weintraub, P., & McKee, M. (2019). Leadership for Innovation in Healthcare: An Exploration. International journal of health policy and management, 8(3), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2018.122.