Nursing Leadership Reflection

Without leadership, it would be impossible for nurses to work with other members of the healthcare team and provide their patients with the best care possible. This is why associate degree nurses need to “provide leadership in a variety of healthcare settings to diverse patient populations” (Ivy Tech Community College). According to Asamani, Naab, and Ansah (2016), there is a dire need for nurses that are capable of leading both themselves and others in patient care. Part of this could possibly be due to the overall need for nurses in general; however, it is more important to have nurses that can lead, for they have the skills to take responsibility for their own actions when they lead themselves, and they can collaborate with other nurses
My Medical-Surgical Clinical III instructor has been encouraging me to delegate tasks to other members of the healthcare team in order to practice that area of leadership. I also had the opportunity during this clinical to observe the unit nurse leader, and to follow her for the morning to see what type of leader she was and how this affected the staff that she leads. I will admit that at first, I thought the only tasks a nurse leader had, were to assign patients to other nurses and to manage issues on the unit. During my observation, I watched the nurse become hands on in her own way with patient care, by sitting in on team rounding and answering call lights for other nurses. She had her own list of tasks for the unit, such as keeping hallways and equipment rooms free of clutter and making sure crash carts were stocked. She used communication both up and down the chain of command to address and issue that occurred with a rapid response call that morning, while taking on the placement of new admissions and keeping track of the discharges on the unit. After my observation, I then had to write a Leadership Paper elaborating on why her leadership style was or was not effective, and about what type of leader that I want to be when I become a