Healthcare Setting and Leadership

¶ … democratic style of leadership. As pointed out by Cherry (2016), democratic leadership is also referred to as participative leadership and encompasses accepting input or contribution from one or more members of the group in the course of decision-making and problem-solving. However, the leader gets to maintain the ultimate say when deciding from the choices available. The members of the group have a tendency of being encourages and driven by democratic leaders. In addition, this style of leadership usually results in more efficacious and precise decisions, taking into account that no leader has the ability of having knowledge in all areas. Obtaining input and contribution from members of the group with expert knowledge and proficiency generates a more comprehensive foundation for decision-making (Cherry, 2016). This fits and goes in hand with my beliefs about my style of leadership. I believe that as a leader, it is imperative to incorporate the followers in order to become more productive and realize the objectives set. In addition, by integrating the personnel with the process of decision-making not only increases a sense of value and worth but also increases their level of impetus.

Attributes of Leadership Needed for Graduate Level Nurses

Leaders are commonly individuals with visions and are armed with strategies, a plan and an aspiration to guide their teams and services to future goals and objectives (Frankel and PCGMS, 2016). There are different traits of leadership necessitated for graduate level nurses. To begin with, one of the leadership traits is professionalism. It is imperative as a graduate nurse to be an efficacious team player and work in tandem with other professionals, such as physicians and general practitioners. Another aspect encompassed in this attribute is that of coping efficiently in stressful situations. The healthcare setting is one that includes a great deal of stress, such as different work shifts and coping with patients, and therefore graduate nurses require such an attribute (Sivamalai, 2008). There is also the leadership trait of self-reflection that graduate nurses should carry. In particular, this aids the graduate nurses to recollect and recall the experiences gained in the workplace and therefore learning and obtaining knowledge from them. Such capacity of reflection aids in coping with patients and dealing with different healthcare instances. Finally, there is the leadership attribute of communication. As a graduate nurse, it is important to have proper and effective communication with patients in order to understand their health problems as also to explain their illness (es) effectively, and the corrective action required (Frankel and PCGMS, 2016).

Personal Leadership Attributes Beneficial in the Graduate Nursing Role

As an individual, I believe there are personal leadership traits that will assist me in my graduate nursing role. These characteristics in particular are sensitivity and consideration. Contemporarily, the workplace is filled with diverse cultures and therefore it is imperative to consider and be sensitive to them. It is imperative to not only accept but also be respectful of differences in culture. Taking into consideration that I hail from a different culture than the predominant one at my workplace, I believe I will be able to be sensitive and understanding of the patients from different cultures and respect them to ensure that I do not infringe on their beliefs (Sargent et al., 2005). In addition, that I feel I may require to develop certain attributes in my graduate nursing role. One of them is risk-taking. As a leader, it is imperative to be willing to take chances regardless of the outcome. It will be important to step out and grow from my comfort zone by becoming more confident, taking risks and coping with the challenging environment. In the graduate nursing role, having more self-assurance and poise implies that I will be able to deal with and tackle the most challenging and demanding tasks in the healthcare setting (Curtis et al., 2011).

Leadership is a Core Competency of Graduate Nursing

I agree that leadership is indeed a core competency of graduate nursing. In accordance to Cooke et al. (2008), the traits of advanced practice nursing leaderships include training and empowerment, invention, engagement and change agency. Some of the responsibilities and duties of the nurse include imparting patients, medical practitioners and also nurses as well. This implies that there is the task of having a say, concession and involvement with policy makers in order to offer patients with the most adequate and high quality healthcare, as well as achieving better work environments. For that reason, leadership is an expected and certain role of graduate nursing.

Leadership in Developed Domain

According to Hamric and Hanson (2005), graduate nurses practice leadership in different domains, which include health policy, nursing profession, clinical practice and system level. The selected domain in this case is the health policy aspect. Considering that the guidelines and principles offer advices on a multitude of diverse aspects that affect the graduate nursing role, it is imperative as a leader to comprehend health policies. This takes into account having the capacity to assess and appraise systems of healthcare, comprehend individual leadership abilities and make the most of them at the fitting time. In this domain, a graduate nurse is able to hone leadership capabilities through policymaking, increasing mindfulness through communication and meaningful engagement.

Employing the Concept of Empowerment in Leadership

Empowerment is one of the traits and individualities of leadership in the graduate nursing role. In particular, it is a progressive and evolving development, which the leader obtains in the course of time to motivate and enthuse others, handing them control, and allowing them to operate on their own. In order to enable and generate empowerment for others, it is necessary for the leaders to hand them sufficient training, stimulation, reassurance, safety, support, guidance and resources to properly operate and function on their own. As a graduate nurse and leader in the healthcare setting, using the approaches aforementioned can instigate empowerment in order to nurture future leaders.