Nursing seems like an ideal industry in which to practice team building. Hospitals are a high pressure, high intensity work culture. The teams of nurses should be a productive team with communication and goals. Patients are quality and job satisfaction and stem from team building skills. It is discouraging that nurses would sacrifice team building to save time.
Even though nurses work together as a unit, it always helps to have a leader. The leader is a more experienced nurse then other member of the nursing team. This gives other nurses someone to look up to and feel comfortable going to during a difficult situation and when you need assistance. Leadership Transitioning In the article The Future of Nursing Leadership: A Commentary, by Kenneth R. White, FACHE, he describes how nursing leaders play a larger role then only on the units. According to White, K. R. (2014) “Nurse were the original servant leaders—at the patient’s beside and in communities- and now they are perfectly positioned to take their experience with leadership to a heightened level.
| |There is a significant decline in admissions to nursing programs. The baby boomer generation is entering their golden years putting an increasing | |strain on healthcare to provide adequate care. | |The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate that 1 million new and replacement nurses for those who retire is
One of the advantages of becoming a registered nurse is based on the shortage. The problem of the nursing shortage is expected to intensify over the next fifteen years, due to the “baby boomers” are aging and with the elderly living longer, nurses will be even more in demand in the coming years. There is a steady decline in the availability of nurses as they go off the point into different occupations or do not even consider nursing as a career option. According to a report conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration, thirty states are currently suffering due to a lack of nurses being able to fill positions. The overall look does not look promising for the state of health care in the United States.
Leadership in Nursing Essential to quality patient care is the effective functioning of an interdisciplinary team. In most clinical settings, nurses have the closest relationship with patients. For that reason nurses need to take an active role in the interdisciplinary team, they are the front line providers, ensure communication between team members and the patient, and continually advocate for the patient and family. Nurses know how care should be delivered. They can ensure smooth handoffs as the patient transitions through the continuum.
The nurse should reflect a high degree of professionalism to patients, the public, and other professionals. Teamwork is a major characteristic of professional nursing. Many times nurses will need assistance helping their patients, and people will be more apt to lend a helping hand if you yourself go out of your way to help others. This not only helps your coworkers but in the long run provides faster more efficient care for the patients. Teamwork may be one of the most important professional characteristics in healthcare.
Post-operatively, whether post-operative day 1 or day 10, orthopedic patients are very dependent on nurses and other healthcare professionals to meet and provide their daily needs. This patient population has many self-care deficits of varying degrees. To meet the demands of the orthopedic patients, Dorothea E. Orem’s theory is a good guide for my and other nurses’ professional practice. Self-care competence has an impact in the quality and quantity of life. Nurses educate and assist patients to achieve their competency in caring for themselves.
Effective communication is an important skill that the professional nurse needs to develop in order to interact effectively with patient and bring about a better resolution in patient’s health condition. Johnson (2010) emphasizes the importance of effective communication by nurse with patient and staff. He says, “ The communication process enhances the broadcasting of information needed to ensure patient safety and promote quality patient care”. When nurse clearly communicates the details of a patient’s condition or progress verbally or writing to other members of the healthcare team handling the case as well as nurses that deal with the patient on other shifts, the likelihood of mistakes that put a patient in jeopardy greatly decreased, so patient are safe. The consequences to the patient if nurses do not clearly communicate all important patient information may be greater pain, a worsening of the patient condition, permanent injury or even death.
Nurses have a great opportunity to shape the future of the nursing practice through therapeutic communication Armold&Boggs, (2011). While nursing is fundamentally about communicating care and care is at the heart of the nurse client relationship, many problems still remain in the clinical area due to a lack of effective communication. This is supported by Crawford,( 1998).Communication is a key skill of modern nursing practice. Therapeutic Communication is one of the most valuable tools that nurses have to build good interpersonal relationship or trust. I felt the need to develop therapeutic relationship with the patients so that they could feel they could put their trust in me ,also that I was there to listen and talk to them not just care for them.Cutcliff and Mckenna (2005) states that you can gain comfort from drawing on your interpersonal skills, having strength and endurance, feeling self confident , having sufficient competence,beingpeace and ease with oneself and also having a sense of being valued and useful.
Professional short and long- term goals My professional short-term goal is to become a critical care nurse. I want to increase my critical thinking skills from a novice to an expert. A critical care nurse is a nurse who can remain calm in a complex emergency situation. A critical care nurse is an expert in using special equipment while providing effective patient care. Always at the ready to provide care in a crisis patient, provide family education and collaborate multidisciplinary teams regarding patient care are also vital for a critical care nurses (Cottrel, 2010).