Reflective Practice on Leadership and Management

Reflective practice on leadership and management

Name: xxxx xxxx

University: xxxx xxxx

Introduction

        Marquis (2009) indicates that the controversies still exists about the relationship between management and leadership as most professionals considers leadership as one of many responsibilities and function of a nurse manage, while on the other hands others argue that management requires a complete different set of skills that are less complex than that of leadership. Curtis (2011) concluded that leadership is an important asset that enables nursing professionals to calmly manage different critical situations that one has to face in his/ her daily work life. Therefore, it is an effective healthcare provision that is unquestionable, similar to the centrality of leadership to all professionals, which is applicable for all levels i.e., starting from student nurse to the nursing director. On the other hand Huczynski (1991) concludes that management is a working process that aids the professionals to deliver care and achieve the organizational goals.

In this essay, I will be reflecting about the impact of leadership and management skills on nursing professionals and patient care. I will be further reflecting on the importance of the development of the fundamental skills to manage nursing team and provide good care to patient at the same time. I will be using the Gibb’s reflective model to reflect on a critical situation that took place at my work and how I used my leadership and management skills and theories to manage the whole situation.

Description

        During my clinical placement in an acute inpatient setting in the mental health department, an incident occurred which enforced me to use my leadership and management skills to resolve the issues. I was given the responsibility to manage an entire shift on my own by my supervisor under his supervision. Usually we require 5 staffs to handle patients in this unit; however more staffs are appointed if level 3 observation patients are admitted. Nurse H in the morning phoned in for sick and just after that I was informed about two level 3 observation services users (Mr. A and Ms. B) were just admitted. These patients had severe suicidal tendencies and thus needed to be under strict observation. Since, I was already a staff down and two high- risk patients were admitted I managed the situation by calling the staff bank co- coordinator to send two extra staff for early shift and night shift, which they provided immediately giving a relief to the team.

        I, then collaborated with the whole team to prepare the morning shift planner and based on the staffs’ competency skills, I assigned them their duties and their individual break- times. Around 12:30 PM, I notice that Mr. A had wrapped a plastic bag around his head with an attempt to commit suicide by suffocating himself. I immediately called for help and managed to pull off the plastic bag off his head without letting him hurting himself or others. Mr. A was furious on my attempt and kept screaming—“This life is not worth living”. I asked the staff to calm him down and I immediately informed my supervisor about the incident. Later, I arranged an one- to- one session with Mr. A, for which he consented and learned that he had been hearing voices that guided him to do so. My supervisor advised me to give him Lozazepam 0.5mg and Haloperidol 1mg. After an hour Mr. A stated that the voices had disappeared. Seeing the criticality of the situation I requested the staff to work with less break- time. In order to motivate them I gave them coffee and tea at regular intervals as observation at level 3 can be really exhausting.

Feelings

In the morning when my supervisor gave me the responsibility to manage an entire day shift, I was taken aback and felt nervous at the same time, realizing the fact that I had never managed such a busy shift before. Irrespective of my apprehension, I believe that I could effectively manage the shift under my supervisors watch. The constructive feedback from my supervisor further encouraged me to use all my competency skills. The incident that took place with Mr. A although had presented me with some major challenges but then using my critical- thinking skills and communication skills I could successfully manage him. My delegating skills helped me re- planning the whole shift plan and adjust the limited staff number in order to prevent such events in future. I tasted victory when I saw my little effort of providing tea and coffee to the staffs encouraged them to work efficiently and reducing their stress levels. I was initially hesitant to administer the medicines to Mr. A as I felt he might lose faith on me but later when I saw him doing well I was satisfied. At the end of the day I was relieved and happy as I successfully managed my responsibility.

Evaluation

Upon evaluating the whole situation that took place on the day I was in- charge of the shift, I realized that although the job was challenging and risky yet it provided me an opportunity to test my nursing skills and learn more about handling busy units. When I was handed over the responsibility of managing the shift, I felt nervous. However, I overcame my apprehension sooner my supervisor emphasized that it is a great opportunity to learn and use my leadership and management skills and build confidence indicating that I was not afraid of challenges and was enthusiastic of learning more.

Preventing Mr. A from committing suicide and convincing him to participate in the face- to- face session showed that I had good communication and convincing skills. The way I handled the situation indicated that I was competent to manage such critical situation. Furthermore, my efforts in collaborating and providing tea and coffee to the staff at regular intervals showed that I could motivate and encourage team to work efficiently. Therefore, I had good collaborative and team work skills.

Analysis

Upon analyzing the incidents that took place on that day, I realized that I had good delegating skills as I managed the whole shift even with limited staff. Furthermore, the constructive feedback provided by my mentor encouraged me to work efficiently with confidence. Walsh (2010) states that it is a nursing professional’s responsibility to help students to develop clinical competence during practice. Benner (2001) and Gurling (2011) confirmed that effective mentorship is necessary to train novice nurses like me to become an expert nurse by teaching them different leadership and management skills and theories. Convincing the staff to work on the new planner that had less break time was another milestone achieved to display my team- work and leadership skills. Providing the staff with tea and coffee relieved their stress further indicates my leadership skills. RCN (2009) states that for effective team- work, clear, reasonable and shared objectives are essential to deliver quality care to patients. Furthermore, Convey (2004) suggested that setting objective is an important factor in team leadership as it can aid in clarifying the needs of the team members and the kind of service that needs to be provided to the service users.