Democratic leadership and essential attributes for graduate nurses

Leadership and the Graduate Nursing Role

Style of Leadership and Beliefs

According to findings from the quiz by Cherry (2016), I am a democratic leader, also referred to as a participative leader. This fits into my beliefs regarding my style of leadership because I encourage and accept input from one or more members of my group in the process of decision making and problem solving. However, I believe that as the leader, I retain the ultimate say when making choices. One of the upsides of this style of leadership is that it has a tendency of encouraging as well as motivating the group members or subordinates. Moreover, I believe that this style of leadership is efficacious because it usually makes the followers have a sense of importance and significance to the team in general, which cultivates dedication to the objectives of the group (Cherry, 2016).

Examine the attributes of leadership that may be needed for graduate level nurses

There are various attributes of leadership that may be required of graduate level nurses. One of the key attributes for graduate nurses, particularly the profession of nursing and the clinical practice arena is compassion and empathy. It is imperative for graduate nurses to be able to empathize with their patients. This encompasses not just undertaking their everyday duties but also having perseverance, tolerance, providing their time, being gentle and showing kind-heartedness in the attitudes and actions (Travers, 2014). A second attribute includes communication. Graduate nurses are required to have comprehensive communication skills as they are deemed essential in rendering good patient care. This takes into account not only being able to communicate with fellow nurses and other physicians, but also with the patients. Graduate nurses are expected to patiently listen to patients, understand their healthcare needs and synthesize such information to undertake the fitting action.

A third fundamental attribute for graduate nurses is being a team player. Teamwork is an indispensable prerequisite for graduate nurses and covers the components of communication, backing and improvement on both a personal and group basis. It is a vital constituent in the provision of good nursing care irrespective of the consumer (Travers, 2014). Graduate nurses also necessitate interpersonal skills as a key leadership attribute. In the clinical practice area and the professional aspect, as well as the system level, graduate nurses are expected to interact with others. Regardless of whether graduate nurses are dealing with patients in providing treatment, fellow nurses and physicians in offering health care and also policy makers in establishing key policies, they will be required to be able to work in tandem with others in order to get the job done. This is a key feature of leadership that is necessary for graduate nurses in advancing and improving the health care that is administered to patients on a professional, systematic and practical level (Reading and Webster, 2014).

Analyze your personal leadership attributes you feel you have that will help you in your graduate nursing role

Personally, as a democratic leader, there are attributes that I feel I have that will assist me in my graduate nursing role. One of the key attributes is being participative with team members and subordinates. This will be beneficial in my graduate nursing role because it assimilates the diverse skill sets and educational background of members. Therefore, incorporating the knowledge, competency and know-how of other nurses and physicians will be beneficial in my role as a graduate nurse as I will provide the patient with better health care (The Commuter, 2014). Secondly, having open communication will help me as a graduate nurse in not only having a better relationship and interaction with other nurses in the health care environment, but also more importantly interrelating with the patient in a more open and comprehensive manner. In addition, open communication makes the patient have more confidence, comfortability and reliability on the nurses providing care. Lastly, having interpersonal attributes will play a fundamental role in interacting with other members in the environment to figure out the most suitable approaches and policies for providing patient centered health care.

Discuss those attributes that you feel you may need to develop in your graduate nursing role