Nurse Leaders in Executive Practice

Introduction

Nurse leaders in executive practice are the force behind the vision for nursing practice. They oversee the management and delivery of safe, timely, efficient, equitable patient-centered care. With their help, collaborative and interprofessional relationships are built among professionals in the healthcare industry, and patients benefit from the improved level of care that follows. Overall, thanks to nurse leaders in executive practice, population health can be promoted and healthcare costs reduced. To support these ends, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) has its Nurse Executive Competencies, which represent the necessary skills that nurse leaders in executive roles should acquire and possess. These competencies were developed in collaboration with the Healthcare Leadership Alliance in 2004 and can be considered the most important educational domains essential for effective healthcare leadership for nurses.

The Vision for Nursing Practice

Nurse executives are responsible for communicating a clear vision for nursing practice. That vision should correspond with the goals of the healthcare organization. The vision is important for nursing staff because it is what allows them to realize the importance of providing the kind of quality care expected of professionals. Nurse executives must establish the reality of working towards the highest standards of care, because there is simply no other way for nursing practices to be able to contribute to patient and community improvements: the vision of a standard of excellence has to be there for them to follow.

Safety is the number one most important aspect of that vision of excellence. That is why nurse executives always prioritize patient safety through the recommendation of evidence-based practices (Engle et al., 2021). These practices help to create a culture of safety, and so long as staff comply with regulatory standards, this culture will help to create a solid nursing staff. At the same time, nurse executives bear responsibility for identifying...

They have to be continuously monitoring patient care processes and outcomes to make sure patient safety standards are being met.

Timeliness is another essential component of nursing excellence, as timely care prevents complications from arising (Sole et al., 2020). Nurse executives have to know how to streamline processes so that there are no unnecessary delays in care delivery. They will have to coordinate with other healthcare professionals to manage care resources.

In doing so, nurse leaders promote efficient care, which is yet one more essential component of nursing. Nurse leaders must take care for the...

…is to be proactive rather than reactive (Engle et al., 2021).

Leadership is also a core competency for nurse executives, due to the need to establish a vision and lead organizational change. Nurse leaders must have integrity, character, the ability to make ethical decisions, and to lead by example. They must also be able to plan strategically, think critically, manage change, build teams, and obtain buy-in. The nurse leader must be a complete leader (Clipper, 2023).

Added to all this are the competencies of professionalism and business acumen. Professionalism refers to the commitment to ethical practice, professional development, and professional standards. Business acumen refers to the knowledge of financial management, human resources, operational efficiency, how to analyze financial data, develop budgets, and how to make business decisions that support organizational goals.

Conclusion

Nurse leaders are responsible for shaping and communicating the vision for nursing practice and making sure the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care is the standard that all follow. To succeed they must be able to collaborate, motivate, and lead the interprofessional environment; they must know how to improve patient experiences, improve population health, reduce healthcare costs, manage change, and develop a positive workplace culture. The AONL Nurse Executive Competencies serve as a framework, emphasizing communication, leadership, professionalism,…