NURS 8302 Assignment: Leadership Assessment ANSWER

• Explain your self-assessment in relation to the nurse leadership competencies. Be sure to identify your strengths and potential gaps in relation to these competencies.
• Describe at least four goals for nurse leadership development that you would like to pursue, given the results of your self-assessment. Be specific.
• Explain why these goals are pertinent to your development as a nurse leader. How will developing these leadership competencies support your healthcare organization or nursing practice? Be specific.

Sample Answer for NURS 8302 Assignment: Leadership Assessment ANSWER

The current health care environment is highly dynamic and requires a committed and motivated staff to deliver quality care. In this fast-paced practice, the role of leaders is critical, and nurses should have essential leadership competencies. These competencies develop over time as nurses interact with colleagues, solve health care problems, and engage in routine patient care. Self-assessment enables current and developing nurse leaders to determine their competency to lead. The strengths and gaps identified through a self-assessment allow nurses to set goals pertinent to individual development as leaders. This paper explains the results of self-assessment, goals based on strengths and potential gaps, and the relevance of the goals in the nursing practice.

Self-Assessment in Relation to Nurse Leadership Competencies

Competency Area	Level
Knowledge of the health care system	Expert
Communication and relationship building	Proficient
Leadership skills	Proficient
Professionalism	Expert
Business skills	Proficient

One of my high-performing areas is knowledge of the health care environment (expert level). In agreement with Sharp et al. (2018), the current health care environment is fast-paced, patient-centered, and data-driven. Also, it must focus on system transformation, improved access to care, and value-based care. Knowledge of the health care environment has much to do with understanding the features of the settings where care is provided, the broad array of services in such settings, and the relationships and methodologies required to facilitate competent patient care. Generally, I understand what patient care and patient needs entail and strategies for delivering efficient, cost-effective, and quality care.

In the current practice, nurses come across patients with different health needs. Empathy, cultural competence, and an in-depth understanding of patient issues are necessary to promote patient satisfaction (Oldland et al., 2020). Communication and relationship building enable health care providers to understand patients’ concerns, experiences, and preferences. As an active listener, I can effectively communicate with patients and colleagues in different practice areas. Active communication is also the foundation of interprofessional collaboration, enabling nurses to work in teams to deliver the required health care goals.

Like other professions, nursing has values that underpin the trust that the public has in service providers. In nursing and health care at large, the public is primarily the patients, while service providers represent health care professionals. Professionalism in health care involves services founded on honesty and compassion, confidentiality, and genuine concern for other people’s needs (Varkey, 2021). I show professionalism by being individually responsible for my actions and their consequences, paying attention to detail, and seeking creative interventions to put things right. Acting professionally also reduces the chances of conflict with colleagues, management, and patients.

A nurse cannot lead without understanding the self. In a highly diverse workplace environment, excellent leaders must trust and empower others. Like professionalism, leadership skills enable leaders to reduce conflicts since they understand how their actions, approaches to routine practice, communication, and values affect others. In terms of competency levels, my leadership skills are at the proficiency level. It is the same case with business skills. Key personal attributes in these areas include visionary thinking, valuing and acting on feedback, supporting nurse staffing, and utilizing technology.

 

Strengths and Potential Gaps

Adequate knowledge of the health care environment is mandatory for all nurse leaders. My strengths in this area include case management, quality improvement, and risk management skills. My knowledge and experience enable me to assess different environments, identify risks or performance gaps and propose appropriate interventions. Other strengths include clinical practice knowledge and delivery models. My strengths in communication include diversity and shared decision-making. However, it is vital to master both verbal and nonverbal communication. Other competency gaps include health care economics and policy knowledge, change management, and understanding of health care financing. My competency in information management, and technology should be improved too.

Patient safety in quality care in the care environment is one of the central focuses of healthcare facilities. Therefore, a proactive healthcare facility is usually engaged in various quality improvement efforts, which involves identifying gaps in patient care and implementing relevant strategies to address the gaps (Whitfill et al.,2018). The initiation of such quality improvement gaps, implementation of relevant interventions, and sustaining the same heavily hinges on the kind of leadership in the organization. The implication is that the leaders play a critical role in improving patient care as they assume the role of the force that drives change initiatives.

As a benchmark, nursing leadership has various competencies that a nurse leader has to achieve to enable them to appropriately lead in the care environment and drive change for quality improvement. As such, an individual should assess themselves to identify their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the nurse leadership competencies for better leadership (Huber, 2017). The purpose of this week’s assignment is to explain the self-assessment and connected to nurse leadership competencies and describe the goals of nurse leadership development to be pursued. In addition, the importance of such goals will be described.

Self-Assessment In Relation to the Nurse Leadership Competencies

As earlier indicated, nurse leaders should be competent to offer effective leadership in the care environment, hence a need for self-assessment to identify potential individual strengths and weaknesses. As such, a self-assessment was undertaken in relation to the nurse leadership competencies. According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nurse leadership competencies include collaboration, communication, education, environmental health, ethics, evidence-based practice and research, leadership, resource utilization, quality of practice, and professional practice evaluations (Clipper & Dawson, 2018).

From the self-assessments, my strengths stood out in various competencies, while other competencies exposed various weaknesses. One of the competencies assessed was collaboration. From the results, this can be regarded as a major area of strength as I seamlessly collaborate with families and patients towards better care for them. In addition, I also effectively work together with other nurses and the management for collaborative relationships to improve patient care. However, the identified gap is in Interprofessional collaboration. I have to improve on how to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to improve care. In terms of communication competency, the assessment revealed strength is verbal and written communication. Besides, I have been able to concisely and clearly express ideas related to patient care. Good communication also involves attentively listening to what others are saying (Sibiya, 2018). This was exposed as an area of weakness as I have had a tendency to hurry others to talk faster when addressing issues. Therefore, such impatience negatively impacts communication efficiency.

I also performed a self-assessment in relation to environmental health. This is an area where I still have to develop competency to ensure that every nursing practice engaged in is healthy and environmentally safe. An environmentally safe environment will ensure that patients get quality care a good relationship exists between other professionals and myself (Huber, 2017). An assessment was also conducted on ethics. This was an area of strength as I have been able to demonstrate credibility, responsibility, and honesty as part of the elements displayed through integrity competency. However, a gap was identified in using ethical decision-making in clinical situations. There is still a need to further develop ethical decision-making in practice settings.

In terms of Evidenced-based practice and research, the self-assessments revealed the ability to integrate research findings and evidence into practice (Culyer et al., 2018). In addition to such indications, I have been able to demonstrate this competency through my learning capacity. The professional practice evaluations indicated high competency as I have been able to display self-development, self-insight, self-management, learning capacity, and self-awareness. However, I need to show adaptability to various situations to show a complete competency in the item. The self-assessment also revealed competency in quality of practice as I have displayed innovation and creativity to support quality improvement.

Goals for Nurse Leadership Development Goal

Self-assessment gives an individual an opportunity to grow by examining various weaknesses and strengths. Goals can then be formulated regarding the pursuant of nurse leadership development of interests. From the self-assessment, some of the goals include:

1. To increase hours of work contact with other healthcare professionals in the care environment to improve Interprofessional Collaboration-This nursing leadership goal is related to collaboration competency. It was noted as a gap during self-evaluation, and therefore, it would be prudent to pursue it and develop it fully for a complete competency.
2. To practice listening skills during conversations with the patients, their families, and fellow professionals for better communication- This nursing leadership development goal is connected to communication competency. Even though the self-assessment exercise revealed that I am largely competent in relation to this item, I need to listen more to improve further; hence it is a goal worth pursuing.

• To practice clinical ethical decision making and engage more in the ethical situations in the care environment. This goal stemmed from ethics competency as the clinical and care environment usually calls nurses to make numerous ethical decisions regarding patient care and safety. Therefore, this s an area that should be pursued for complete development.

1. To show improvements on adaptability in various care settings by working in different care environment-This goal arises from the professional practice evaluations competency. Nurse leaders may be called upon to offer their leadership skills in different clinical environments; hence adaptability is key. By pursuing it, I will be able to seamlessly work in every new environment and offer the needed leadership qualities.

How the Goals are Pertinent to the Development as a Nurse Leader

Nurse leaders need to show various leadership abilities in the care environment to support efforts and interventions made to improve quality. As such, nurse leadership should formulate quality improvement initiatives, plan for their implementation and support similar interventions and initiatives (Huber, 2017). Therefore, as a nurse leader, the discussed goals are pertinent to my development. Besides, developing leadership competencies will help my healthcare organization in various ways. The first goal, “To increase hours of work contact with other healthcare professionals in the care environment to improve Interprofessional collaboration,” is pertinent to my development as a nurse leader since it will help me tap into other professionals’ pool of knowledge to help in improving care. Besides, I will substantially be able to develop my skills of care provided to the patients.

The second goal, “To practice listening skills during conversations with the patients, their families, and fellow professionals for better communication,” will greatly improve my relationship with the patients, their family members, and fellow nurses. This will ensure that I offer improved care and improve the working environment (Huber, 2017). The third goal, “To practice clinical ethical decision making and engage more on the ethical situations in the care environment,” is also pertinent as I will develop in terms of making better decisions in ethical situations to boost my professionalism and give the patient better care and services. The last objective, “To show improvements on adaptability in various care settings by working in different care environments,” will boost my ability to work in any care environment, even in the most challenging ones. This will enable me to grow professionally and become more competent as a nurse leader.

The Importance of Developing the Competency to my Organization

Healthcare organizations are constantly under pressure to offer safe, reliable, and quality patient care. Therefore, nurse leaders need to develop leadership competencies to help better the organizations achieve such goals. Developing competence in collaboration will improve care coordination activities, hence boosting the organization’s chances of offering quality care (Huber, 2017). In addition, the development of communication competency will help the organization in avoiding potential medical errors, which are majorly due to poor communication. Such errors are usually costly. By developing the competency in environmental health, I will support my organization in ensuring that the care environment is secure and safe for patients and promote relevant self-care and wellness programs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, leadership nature and structure in a healthcare organization can either foster or hinder patient quality improvement initiatives. Therefore, nurse leaders need to develop various leadership competencies as they directly relate to better and improve patient care and safety. This assignment has explored the nursing leadership competencies, self-assessment discussion regarding the competencies, and how the development of the competencies would help my organization.

References

Clipper, B., & Dawson, J. M. (2018). Key competencies for nursing. American Nurse Today, 13(2), 24-25.

Culyer, L. M., Jatulis, L. L., Cannistraci, P., & Brownell, C. A. (2018). Evidence-based teaching strategies that facilitate transfer of knowledge between theory and practice: What are nursing faculty using?. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 13(3), 174-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2018.03.003

Huber, D. (2017). Leadership and nursing care management-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective communication in nursing. Nursing, 19.

Whitfill, T., Gawel, M., & Auerbach, M. (2018). A simulation-based quality improvement initiative improves pediatric readiness in community hospitals. Pediatric emergency care, 34(6), 431-435. Doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000001233

Sample Answer 2 for NURS 8302 Assignment: Leadership Assessment ANSWER

Patient safety in quality care in the care environment is one of the central focuses of healthcare facilities. Therefore, a proactive healthcare facility is usually engaged in various quality improvement efforts, which involves identifying gaps in patient care and implementing relevant strategies to address the gaps (Whitfill et al.,2018). The initiation of such quality improvement gaps, implementation of relevant interventions, and sustaining the same heavily hinges on the kind of leadership in the organization. The implication is that the leaders play a critical role in improving patient care as they assume the role of the force that drives change initiatives.

As a benchmark, nursing leadership has various competencies that a nurse leader has to achieve to enable them to appropriately lead in the care environment and drive change for quality improvement. As such, an individual should assess themselves to identify their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the nurse leadership competencies for better leadership (Huber, 2017). The purpose of this week’s assignment is to explain the self-assessment and connected to nurse leadership competencies and describe the goals of nurse leadership development to be pursued. In addition, the importance of such goals will be described.

Self-Assessment In Relation to the Nurse Leadership Competencies

As earlier indicated, nurse leaders should be competent to offer effective leadership in the care environment, hence a need for self-assessment to identify potential individual strengths and weaknesses. As such, a self-assessment was undertaken in relation to the nurse leadership competencies. According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nurse leadership competencies include collaboration, communication, education, environmental health, ethics, evidence-based practice and research, leadership, resource utilization, quality of practice, and professional practice evaluations (Clipper & Dawson, 2018).

From the self-assessments, my strengths stood out in various competencies, while other competencies exposed various weaknesses. One of the competencies assessed was collaboration. From the results, this can be regarded as a major area of strength as I seamlessly collaborate with families and patients towards better care for them. In addition, I also effectively work together with other nurses and the management for collaborative relationships to improve patient care. However, the identified gap is in Interprofessional collaboration. I have to improve on how to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to improve care. In terms of communication competency, the assessment revealed strength is verbal and written communication. Besides, I have been able to concisely and clearly express ideas related to patient care. Good communication also involves attentively listening to what others are saying (Sibiya, 2018). This was exposed as an area of weakness as I have had a tendency to hurry others to talk faster when addressing issues. Therefore, such impatience negatively impacts communication efficiency.

I also performed a self-assessment in relation to environmental health. This is an area where I still have to develop competency to ensure that every nursing practice engaged in is healthy and environmentally safe. An environmentally safe environment will ensure that patients get quality care a good relationship exists between other professionals and myself (Huber, 2017). An assessment was also conducted on ethics. This was an area of strength as I have been able to demonstrate credibility, responsibility, and honesty as part of the elements displayed through integrity competency. However, a gap was identified in using ethical decision-making in clinical situations. There is still a need to further develop ethical decision-making in practice settings.

In terms of Evidenced-based practice and research, the self-assessments revealed the ability to integrate research findings and evidence into practice (Culyer et al., 2018). In addition to such indications, I have been able to demonstrate this competency through my learning capacity. The professional practice evaluations indicated high competency as I have been able to display self-development, self-insight, self-management, learning capacity, and self-awareness. However, I need to show adaptability to various situations to show a complete competency in the item. The self-assessment also revealed competency in quality of practice as I have displayed innovation and creativity to support quality improvement.

Goals for Nurse Leadership Development Goal

Self-assessment gives an individual an opportunity to grow by examining various weaknesses and strengths. Goals can then be formulated regarding the pursuant of nurse leadership development of interests. From the self-assessment, some of the goals include:

1. To increase hours of work contact with other healthcare professionals in the care environment to improve Interprofessional Collaboration-This nursing leadership goal is related to collaboration competency. It was noted as a gap during self-evaluation, and therefore, it would be prudent to pursue it and develop it fully for a complete competency.
2. To practice listening skills during conversations with the patients, their families, and fellow professionals for better communication- This nursing leadership development goal is connected to communication competency. Even though the self-assessment exercise revealed that I am largely competent in relation to this item, I need to listen more to improve further; hence it is a goal worth pursuing.

• To practice clinical ethical decision making and engage more in the ethical situations in the care environment. This goal stemmed from ethics competency as the clinical and care environment usually calls nurses to make numerous ethical decisions regarding patient care and safety. Therefore, this s an area that should be pursued for complete development.

1. To show improvements on adaptability in various care settings by working in different care environment-This goal arises from the professional practice evaluations competency. Nurse leaders may be called upon to offer their leadership skills in different clinical environments; hence adaptability is key. By pursuing it, I will be able to seamlessly work in every new environment and offer the needed leadership qualities.

How the Goals are Pertinent to the Development as a Nurse Leader

Nurse leaders need to show various leadership abilities in the care environment to support efforts and interventions made to improve quality. As such, nurse leadership should formulate quality improvement initiatives, plan for their implementation and support similar interventions and initiatives (Huber, 2017). Therefore, as a nurse leader, the discussed goals are pertinent to my development. Besides, developing leadership competencies will help my healthcare organization in various ways. The first goal, “To increase hours of work contact with other healthcare professionals in the care environment to improve Interprofessional collaboration,” is pertinent to my development as a nurse leader since it will help me tap into other professionals’ pool of knowledge to help in improving care. Besides, I will substantially be able to develop my skills of care provided to the patients.

The second goal, “To practice listening skills during conversations with the patients, their families, and fellow professionals for better communication,” will greatly improve my relationship with the patients, their family members, and fellow nurses. This will ensure that I offer improved care and improve the working environment (Huber, 2017). The third goal, “To practice clinical ethical decision making and engage more on the ethical situations in the care environment,” is also pertinent as I will develop in terms of making better decisions in ethical situations to boost my professionalism and give the patient better care and services. The last objective, “To show improvements on adaptability in various care settings by working in different care environments,” will boost my ability to work in any care environment, even in the most challenging ones. This will enable me to grow professionally and become more competent as a nurse leader.

The Importance of Developing the Competency to my Organization

Healthcare organizations are constantly under pressure to offer safe, reliable, and quality patient care. Therefore, nurse leaders need to develop leadership competencies to help better the organizations achieve such goals. Developing competence in collaboration will improve care coordination activities, hence boosting the organization’s chances of offering quality care (Huber, 2017). In addition, the development of communication competency will help the organization in avoiding potential medical errors, which are majorly due to poor communication. Such errors are usually costly. By developing the competency in environmental health, I will support my organization in ensuring that the care environment is secure and safe for patients and promote relevant self-care and wellness programs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, leadership nature and structure in a healthcare organization can either foster or hinder patient quality improvement initiatives. Therefore, nurse leaders need to develop various leadership competencies as they directly relate to better and improve patient care and safety. This assignment has explored the nursing leadership competencies, self-assessment discussion regarding the competencies, and how the development of the competencies would help my organization.

References

Clipper, B., & Dawson, J. M. (2018). Key competencies for nursing. American Nurse Today, 13(2), 24-25.

Culyer, L. M., Jatulis, L. L., Cannistraci, P., & Brownell, C. A. (2018). Evidence-based teaching strategies that facilitate transfer of knowledge between theory and practice: What are nursing faculty using?. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 13(3), 174-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2018.03.003

Huber, D. (2017). Leadership and nursing care management-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Sibiya, M. N. (2018). Effective communication in nursing. Nursing, 19.

Whitfill, T., Gawel, M., & Auerbach, M. (2018). A simulation-based quality improvement initiative improves pediatric readiness in community hospitals. Pediatric emergency care, 34(6), 431-435. Doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000001233

Sample Answer 3 for NURS 8302 Assignment: Leadership Assessment ANSWER

DNP-prepared nurses get appropriate and sufficient training, which helps them perform various roles in the healthcare sector and healthcare organization. Indeed, they are expected to offer leadership in the field, practice, and various organizations. As such, DNP-prepared nurses need to develop knowledge, strategies, and skills that help harness the role successfully and at higher levels of performance and achievement (Moran et al.,2023). As part of the plan to develop such knowledge, strategies, and skills, an individual needs to consider, reflect, and acknowledge their weaknesses and strengths in leadership and identify potential areas that can be improved to enhance such capabilities.  One relevant aspect to use in reference to such a reflection is the AONL Nurse Leader Competencies (Morse & Warshawsky, 2021). Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to explore the strengths and potential gaps based on the nurse’s leadership competencies provided. As such, a self-assessment about the nurse leadership competencies, four goals for the nurse leadership that would be pursued, and the goals pertinent to the development as a nurse leader.

The Self-Assessment In Relation to the Nurse Leadership Competencies, Strengths, and Weaknesses

            As earlier indicated, the appropriate development of the right skills requires reflection and self-assessment. Therefore, this section offers a self-assessment in relation to the nurse leadership competencies, strengths, and weaknesses. I have demonstrated various strengths in communication and relationship-building, such as continually demonstrating effective communication skills. I have always tried to clearly communicate with colleagues and team members while focusing on ensuring that the information is comprehensively and accurately conveyed. In addition, I have purposed to be an active listener. Hence, I value understanding feedback from others, which then helps improve open communication. On the other hand, one aspect that may need improvement is my ability to adapt my communication styles for different audiences; as such, I will need to start by tailoring my communication based on the setting (Christy et al.,2022).

The other aspect of focus is the healthcare environment. I have a considerable understanding of healthcare, especially in aspects such as current trends, regulations, and policies. I have also continually undertaken education with the primary focus of staying informed regarding various aspects, such as advancements in the healthcare field and healthcare delivery. However, there are also potential gaps that I may need to address. For example, it will be important to enhance my understanding of emerging and useful healthcare technologies and how they can be applied in various healthcare settings to help improve patient outcomes (Qadri et al.,2021). In addition, I also have a weakness of not being vigilant regarding the significant aspects of change and healthcare policy revisions within our organization. As such, I will have to use appropriate strategies to address this gap.

The next competency worth exploring is leadership, which is at the core of qualities and competencies that a DNP-prepared nurse is expected to acquire and develop. I also have both strengths and weaknesses regarding this competency. One of my strengths is that, in various capacities, I have endeavored to guide my team through challenges by using various strategies such as collaboration. I have also successfully inspired other people and built a positive team culture to help drive the organization forward and achieve the set organizational goals. On the other hand, there are potential gaps that I need to work on to be a more effective and all-rounded leader. For example, it is important that I become more competent in engaging and motivating others, especially in the face of change (Bonawitz et al.,2020). Such skills can be fostered through pursuing more opportunities for leadership development as appropriate.

Professionalism is a competency that allows a nurse to align behavior and personal values with that of a particular organization’s culture and ensure that there is a just culture of accountability. It also involves aspects such as governance, advocacy, health equity, and social determinants of health. As such, I also have various strengths and potential gaps regarding this competency. I have always made efforts to align my behavior with the culture of organizations I have ever worked in. Besides, I have always upheld professional and ethical standards as a leader, advocated for patients, and triggered professionalism in my interactions with patients and colleagues. Advocacy and professionalism, especially when patients are involved, usually come with ethical dilemmas or ethical issues (Doherty, 2020). However, I still have a shortfall when it comes to dealing with complex ethical dilemmas or situations, which then requires that I improve my capability and competency in such situations. Various efforts will be used, such as seeking guidance from senior professionals, guidelines, and, in some cases, ethical committees when making my decisions.

The next competency DNP-prepared nurses must develop is business skills and principles, which entails financial management, human resource management, and strategic management. All these skills are important, especially when understanding and managing the financial aspects of a particular organization. I also have various strengths and potential gaps that need to be addressed to acquire these skills adequately. One of my strengths is that I have an appreciable understanding of the financial processes of healthcare organizations (Cleverly et al.,2023). My active involvement in resource allocation and budget management has highlighted this aspect while ensuring that the available resources are efficiently and appropriately used. On the other hand, I still have glaring deficiencies when it comes to strategic planning. I need to improve my ability to undertake strategic planning initiatives, which can be achieved through a productive collaboration with various administrative and financial teams, which can hugely contribute to helping align the initiatives with the organization’s goals, mission, and vision.

Goals for Nurse Leadership Development To be Pursued

Improvement in the identified potential gaps requires that an individual takes proactive steps and uses specific and effective strategies to help fill the potential gaps. Such goals will also ensure that a person becomes an all-round leader with the right knowledge, skills, and competencies. Therefore, this section explores the potential goals.

1. To enhance my ability to adapt my communication style for diverse situations and audiences in health care settings.

This goal will be achieved through various steps and activities, such as proactively practicing effective communication strategies in situations such as one-on-one and team meeting interactions, participating in mentorship programs, and practicing communication in seminars and workshops.

1. To boost my knowledge regarding emerging healthcare technologies and explore their effect on organizational efficiency and patient care.

This goal will also be achieved through actions such as collaborating with various IT experts, attending conferences covering the healthcare technology trends theme, and taking online courses on the same.

• To improve my capability and skills in recognizing, addressing, and navigating ethical dilemmas in healthcare.

This goal will also be achieved by engaging in regular ethical decision-making situations, seeking mentorship from leaders engaging in ethics, and attending training workshops.

1. To develop a more robust understanding of strategic planning within healthcare organizations

This goal will also be achieved through various strategies such as taking leadership roles, collaborating with other teams, and attending strategic planning workshops and seminars.

Why The Goals Are Pertinent to the Development As A Nurse Leader

The formulated goals are all pertinent to the development of a nurse leader. Enhancing my communication ability is relevant in that it is key to boosting seamless coordination in health care, helps prevent misunderstanding, and fosters collaboration. This goal will impact the organization since it can help reduce errors and boost the culture of safety (Berry et al.,2020). The goal of enhancing my knowledge of emerging healthcare technologies is also relevant since it will help me engage in using the latest technology to enhance patient outcomes. It also impacts organizations positively since using such technologies has been key to streamlining organizational processes and improving patient-centered care. It is also important to improve on ethical dilemmas since it ensures an alignment with organizational values and professional standards. Such an aspect can help in upholding the organization’s reputation. The goal of focusing on strategic planning is also relevant as it will enable me to align the nursing services with the organization’s vision and goals. It also impacts the organization since it can lead to its financial stability.

Conclusion

This assignment has focused on the nurse leadership competencies. As such, a self-assessment aspect has been explored. In addition, the strengths and potential gaps which need to be filled have been explored. It is important to address the gaps to be an effective leader.

References

Berry, J. C., Davis, J. T., Bartman, T., Hafer, C. C., Lieb, L. M., Khan, N., & Brilli, R. J. (2020). Improved safety culture and teamwork climate are associated with decreases in patient harm and hospital mortality across a hospital system. Journal of Patient Safety, 16(2), 130-136. Doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000251

Bonawitz, K., Wetmore, M., Heisler, M., Dalton, V. K., Damschroder, L. J., Forman, J., … & Moniz, M. H. (2020). Champions in context: Which attributes matter for change efforts in healthcare? Implementation Science, 15, 1-10. Doi: 10.1186/s13012-020-01024-9

Christy, K. R., Minich, M., Tao, R., Riddle, K., & Kim, S. (2022). To tailor or not to tailor: An investigation of narrative tailoring for health communication. Journal of Health Communication, 27(3), 152–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2022.2068702

Cleverley, W. O., Cleverley, J. O., & Parks, A. V. (2023). Essentials of health care finance. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Doherty, R. F. (2020). Ethical dimensions in the health professions-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Moran, K. J., Burson, R., & Conrad, D. (2023). The Doctor of Nursing Practice project: A framework for success. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Morse, V., & Warshawsky, N. E. (2021). Nurse leader competencies: Today and tomorrow. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 45(1), 65–70. https://doi.org/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000453

Qadri, Y. A., Nauman, A., Zikria, Y. B., Vasilakos, A. V., & Kim, S. W. (2020). The future of healthcare internet of things: a survey of emerging technologies. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 22(2), 1121-1167. 10.1109/COMST.2020.2973314

Sample Answer 4 for NURS 8302 Assignment: Leadership Assessment ANSWER

Nurses should be committed to providing more in practice besides primary care. They should be at the center of problem-solving, organizational development, and nursing management, among other roles. DNP-prepared nurses are prepared to lead their respective fields, practices, and organizations. However, they cannot effectively lead without understanding their strengths and applying them appropriately. DNP-prepared nurses must also analyze their leadership weaknesses and set goals for improvement. A self-assessment enables nurses to evaluate their nurse leadership competencies. The purpose of this paper is to describe my nurse leadership competencies, leadership development goals, and why the goals are pertinent to my development as a nurse leader.

Self-Assessment in Relation to the Nurse Leadership Competencies

I primarily assessed my leadership competencies focusing on the nurse manager competencies. In routine practice, nurse managers provide a crucial link between the administration and the point of care. Given the demanding nature of patient care, it is crucial to have individuals involved in creating healthy environments, guiding efficient management of organizational resources, and inspiring the nursing staff to adopt appropriate practices to optimize patient outcomes. The nurse manager competencies are in three broad categories- the science, the art, and the leader within (American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), n.d.) A successful nurse leader must have adequate expertise in the three domains. Such expertise will enable them to contribute effectively in patient engagement, influence appropriate organizational cultures, and create safe, healthy environments for patients and health care staff.

Self-Assessment Results

Domain	Defining Elements	Competency Level	Strengths	Weaknesses
The Science	Managing health care organizations as business.	Basic	Performance improvement and clinical practice knowledge.	Strategic planning, technology, and human resource management.
The Art	Leading the people	Proficient	Leadership skills and diversity.	Relationship management
The leader within	Creating the leader in yourself	Mastery	Personal and professional accountability and career planning.	Action planning, engagement in reflective practice

 

The science domain involves seven areas where a nurse’s expertise is critical to being an effective leader. The first four areas include financial management, human resource management, performance improvement and foundational thinking skills (AONL, n.d.). These domains imply that nurse leaders should be competent in maximizing care efficiency through human resource and finance management, adopt appropriate practices to enhance performance, and apply systems thinking knowledge in analysis and decision making. The other three areas of the science domain include technology, strategic management, and appropriate clinical practice knowledge (AONL, n.d.). Nurse leaders should integrate appropriate technologies into patient care processes, facilitate change strategically, and meet performance expectations by having adequate clinical practice knowledge. Overall, I am at the basic level in the science domain since I need to improve on financial management essentials, human resource management, and technology integration into health care processes.

The second domain of nurse manager competencies is art. It involves three major areas, including human resource leadership skills, relationship management and influencing behaviors, and diversity. The critical components of human resource leadership skills are performance management, staff development, and staff retention (AONL, n.d.). It is primarily about the nurse leader’s role in staff monitoring, development, and retention by ensuring that nurses and other health care providers are satisfied. Relationship management mainly focuses on conflict and situational management and modeling appropriate behaviors to build a cohesive workforce. According to Nair and Adetayo (2019), diverse workforces foster inclusion and cultural competence. Nurse leaders must understand the essentials of a diverse workforce to achieve similar outcomes.

The third domain is the leader within. It has three major areas about an individual’s journey to full potential. The first area is personal and professional accountability involving personal growth and development, ability to practice ethical behavior, involvement in professional associations, and achieving certification in an appropriate specialty (AONL, n.d). The second area is career planning, where nurse leaders must understand their role, future, and develop a career path. The third area is personal journey disciplines involving action learning and reflective practice engagement.

Goals for Nurse Leadership Development

Growth and development in any specialty require professionals to set measurable and achievable goals. The same case applies to nurse leaders. My first goal is to develop financial management skills to ensure that I can maximize care efficiency and throughput. Expertise in this area will also put me in an excellent position to guide organizations on budgeting, productivity evaluation, and forecasting future revenue and expenses to facilitate decision-making. The second goal is to increase my knowledge on technology integration into health practice, particularly information technology. Nurse leaders cannot influence appropriate practice change without using current and emerging technologies.

My third goal for nursing leadership development is to increase my knowledge in strategic management. Attention areas include change facilitation, project management, and contingency planning. Nurse leaders play a critical role in change facilitation by communicating the necessary change and being key stakeholders. Excellent leaders also play an integral role in fostering a culture of safety and quality (Feldman et al., 2019). I should be an expert in strategic management to facilitate change effectively besides guiding organizations in project management and contingency planning. My fourth goal is to improve my skills in relationship management and influencing behaviors. Raines (2019) found that conflicts are part of everyday health practice due to the inevitable differences in perceptions, skills, roles, and expectations. Innate differences such as gender, race, and age also trigger conflicts due to misunderstandings and communication problems. A productive workforce requires nurse leaders to influence people positively and solve conflicts as they emerge.

Goals Connection with My Development as a Nurse Leader

Regardless of their specialties and routine roles, health care professionals should be committed to improving their skills over time. The same principle applies to my goals as a nurse leader. I look forward to gaining the necessary expertise to ensure that I can do more in health practice besides general patient care. Also, the goals are based on my weaknesses identified in the nurse manager competencies’ evaluation. Achieving these goals will ensure that I can deliver expertly in nursing leadership, and nurses and organizations can depend on me for guidance.

Developing the leadership competencies will also support my health care organization immensely. Generally, today’s practice is tech-driven as health care organizations continue integrating technologies into patient care (Lancharoen et al., 2020). My development in the nursing domain will ensure that I can effectively guide my organization in adopting appropriate technologies to enhance health outcomes. Growth in financial and human resource management will enable me to guide my organization to plan, budget, and use resources efficiently. Above all, I will be more influential in practice change as I lead change facilitation.

Conclusion

Nurse leaders are influential figures in health care organizations due to their high ranking and responsibilities. Regarding roles, nurse managers act as the link between administration and points of care. They play a critical role in creating healthy environments and promoting a culture where interdisciplinary team members optimize patient outcomes. As discussed in this paper, nurse managers’ competencies fall into three main domains: science, the leader within, and art. Self-assessment helps current and potential nurse leaders to assess their strengths and weaknesses in each domain and set appropriate goals for nurse leadership development.

References

American Organization for Nursing Leadership. (n.d.). Nurse manager competencies. https://www.aonl.org/system/files/media/file/2019/06/nurse-manager-competencies.pdf

Feldman, S. S., Buchalter, S., Zink, D., Slovensky, D. J., & Hayes, L. W. (2019). Training leaders for a culture of quality and safety. Leadership in Health Services, 32(2), 251–263. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-09-2018-0041

Lancharoen, S., Suksawang, P., & Naenna, T. (2020). Readiness assessment of information integration in a hospital using an analytic network process method for decision-making in a healthcare network. International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 12, 1847979019899318. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1847979019899318

Nair, L., & Adetayo, O. A. (2019). Cultural competence and ethnic diversity in healthcare. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Global Open, 7(5), e2219. https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000002219

Raines, S. S. (2019). Conflict management for managers: Resolving workplace, client, and policy disputes. Rowman & Littlefield.