Description:
I would like to share an incident in my nursing experience where one of my colleagues played a leadership role. I was working in the cardio thoracic and vascular surgery intensive care unit (ICU) on an evening shift. It was a large unit in that hospital with 20 beds, and we had 1:1 ratio for nurse and patient. That was a busy day and the ICU was almost full with 18 post operative patients. We 18 nurses were posted in the ICU at that time except …show more content…
For instance, if our senior nurse who played the leadership role was knowledgeable about the main components and qualities of a good leader, she would not have done such a mistake in an emergency situation like that. If she knew the basics of leadership, she would have divided the task to each of us in the team. Furthermore, I have learned that a leader should be knowledgeable, able to work within the team, confident and enthusiastic. When I reviewed the leadership styles, I found the democratic leadership style is the best to be applied in nursing. Hibberd & Smith (2006) says, "The effectiveness of the leadership style is determined by the appropriateness of that style to the environment in which it is being used" (p.538). In my opinion, a leader in nursing must be an active listener, has the skill to deal with complex / conflicting situations, protective to clients as well as colleagues, be able to convey the correct message to the health care team, be organized in their decisions, be a motivator, and be responsible to their own actions and decisions. Also in an emergency situation, each nurse is a leader. An efficient nurse must have the knowledge, skill, and judgement to manage any emergency …show more content…
I now feel, if I was in the position of my colleague who played the leadership role, I would have handled the same situation in a better way. I would have informed my colleagues about the telephone message clearly and clarified their doubts. Then, I would have assigned each nurse for each task, and asked for their opinion. Also I would have work with them to meet the goal of stabilizing the emergency situation. However, I have not sufficiently developed my skills in communicating with the health care team using SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) tool. This means that I have to learn more about the communication using SBAR tool in the context of Canadian Health care System. This skill is essential to me as a learner because, I have no experience as a nurse in the Canadian Health care System, and I know that it is totally different from where I have experienced as nurse. As a next step, I need develop a learning goal in order to meet the standards of College of Nurses of