Nursing leadership skills and advocacy for healthcare improvement

Nursing Advocacy

COMBINING NURSE LEADER WITH ADVOCACY

Personal and Professional accountability

For one to achieve personal and professional development in the field of nursing he or she needs to focus on the following: continuing his or her education, planning their career, regular self-monitoring, and assessment and to formulate action plans (AACN, 2006). Self-assessment reveals to constantly evaluate ones' progress and make improvements where necessary.

Ethical behavior and practice-

This entails practices that are compliant with nursing standards (AACN, 2006). It is recommended to be ethical where one needs to be aware of ethics as an area where there is a need for constant practice and needs to be aware of the latest standards recommended for ethical practice. Thus, one has to be updated with case studies of ethical dilemmas that others have faced in the field and the way they were handled.

Professional association involvement

This entails participation or membership in professional associations with the field of nursing (AACN, 2006). There is a need for improvement in this area and can be improved.

Certification: One should be continuously learning to be a better HCP (Health Care Professional).

Career Planning

Knowing your role -- It is important to understand ones' current roles and responsibilities and compare it with industry standards. It is necessary to have a career plan in writing to know what needs to be done to progress professionally. It is required to polish ones' skills.

Personal Journey discipline

For the purpose of developing individual strengths as a nurse leader it is needed to refine ones' leadership skills, to achieve leadership position. It is necessary to undertake leadership courses to improve the quality of service and the quality of care which will be provided. Focus on Reflective Practice is also essential.

Reflective practice reference behaviors

As an individual who aspires to be a better nurse leader, one has to develop some qualities that would be helpful in a leadership position like integrity and also the appreciation for diversity and ambiguity. One has to be cognizant of the value of diverse viewpoints and the usefulness of such views to teamwork.

Discuss how you will use your current leadership skill set to advocate for change in your workplace.

To improve healthcare services, there is a need to have a strong leadership. Yet not many students who join the field of nursing do so with the aim of becoming leaders, yet it is expected that practitioners in the field should have leadership skills so that they can competently fulfill their roles and responsibilities in the wards and in boardrooms. Nurses are also expected to have leadership skills such as accountability and also to be able to work in a team with other HCPs so as to deliver quality healthcare services (NAP.edu, n.d.).

As a nurse leader, to fully collaborate with medical doctors and other HCPs for the purpose of transforming healthcare service delivery, there is a need for leadership competencies as said earlier. It is required to research and repeatedly put in use the best leadership practices in the industry. To be an effective leader, focus on bringing about evidence-based care and other changes in polices to make healthcare provision more effective such as constantly incorporating research findings would help improve nursing practices (NAP.edu, n.d.).

There are two leadership skill sets that will be particularly helpful in helping to advocate change in the workplace. The first skill set includes the following: a deep understanding of the healthcare delivery system; ability to work in team; ability to work seamlessly with other HCPs; knowledge of the standards of ethical care and knowledge of theories of innovation. This set of skills would be crucial in helping advocate for change in the healthcare system. For instance, knowing the theories of innovation will help to bring about change and ability to work in a team will help in cooperating effectively with other HCPs (NAP.edu, n.d.).

Identify one personal goal of your leadership growth and discuss your implementation plan to achieve that goal.