Personal philosophy of leadership and innovation
In many cases, formal and informal leaders are faced with situations that need thorough judgment. At times, the leader may not have clear guidance to precisely solve challenges that face them in everyday practice. The principles that a leader holds can, however, provide some degree of clarity to solving a problem. An outstanding leader is the one that understands who they are and how to influence their followers in a manner that they gain respect, trust, and confidence in every team member. Besides, as DNP graduates, we are required to enhance healthcare through innovation, and inclusive leadership is essential for innovation. According to (Erickson et al. 2018), philosophy enables a person to create a system of thought to sustain one’s journey and obtain principles that guide them in every action. Leading means creating a movement towards a common goal. Therefore, a philosophy enables a leader to define leadership, their attitudes towards leadership, and principles and behaviors they need to demonstrate while leading to becoming effective leaders.
Leading means more than just ensuring the accomplishment of tasks. Instead, it is empowering employees to enhance quality and safe patient care.
Foundational leadership theory
Transformational leadership theory closely mirrors my leadership philosophy. The healthcare environment is dynamic, characterized by global turbulence, uncertainty, and change in organizational needs. For instance, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is a clear indication of the dynamicity of the healthcare system. For healthcare organizations to achieve quality and safe patient care, employee wellbeing and satisfaction should be guaranteed. Besides, effective leadership should strive to mitigate the adverse effects in the workers’ environment, including stress, depression, burnout, frustration, and anxiety, which may be predisposing factors to mental and cardiovascular diseases (Fischer, 2016).
According to Fischer (2016), employee wellbeing and satisfaction is influenced by physical and psychosocial work environments, while Chandra (2016) cites that one of the psychosocial work environments is the leadership style employed in an organization. It is mentioned that positive leadership, which demonstrates attitudes of positive passion, confidence, and skills to inspire others, elevate their followers’ commitment, wellbeing, and trust (Fischer, 2016). Transformational leaders inspire their followers to do more than what they can do through individualized consideration and activating employee self-efficacy. That is, they support, mentor, and develop their staff by actively listening to their needs and attending to them. Besides, the leader is empathetic of each employee’s situation and background and provides support to ensure employee satisfaction. By using individualized consideration, the leader becomes aware of their employee’s unique talents and abilities, and their contribution in the workplace and helps them to develop and demonstrate their beneficial behaviors and skills, therefore, fostering innovation in the workplace.
Characteristics of the philosophy
The main aspect of leadership is the relationship between the leader and their followers. For the optimal achievement of organizational goals, the leader must identify and respond to the needs of their followers. Patient care is a complex subject in healthcare, with each patient having their unique needs, which requires that staff are empowered to ensure the unique needs of each patient are attended to using evidence-based practice. According to Rose et al. (2014), leaders have the power to influence their followers within and beyond institutional boundaries. Effective leaders must cultivate a culture of positive interpersonal relationships, motivate individuals and teams to achieve organizational goals, and create a caring and supportive environment for the delivery of patient care (Marshall, 2010).
Leading nurses and other healthcare professionals who function in a highly complex environment requires critical thinking to ensure improved quality and safe patient care. Enhancing the quality of patient care requires that a nurse leader thinks critically about unfamiliar situations, including quality assurance, staffing, and strategic planning (Marshall, 2010). Critical thinking in patient care includes making decisions without being judgmental while demonstrating open-mindedness for other departmental needs to create synergy within the organization. Also, to enhance patient care in unfamiliar situations, the leader should be a role model by actively investigating the situation and putting measures in place to prevent patient harm.
My philosophy also deals with a fundamental aspect in the delivery of patient care. Nursing is an art and science, and when patient care is delivered by nurses only because medications have been prescribed, or a procedure, for example, nebulization of a patient has been prescribed by a physician without the knowledge of why it is being done makes nursing lack its meaning. Therefore, to enhance the quality of patient care, nurses should be competent at delivering patient care services and have a rationale for implementing the care (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2017). For instance, the nurse should be aware of the normal blood pressure of their patient, abnormal blood pressure, the rationale for the administration of antihypertensive medications to patients with hypertension, and recognize adverse drug reactions.
Qualities and skills attributed to my philosophy
Empowerment
The delivery of quality patient care requires an autonomous nursing staff. Therefore, the leader should train and develop their team to offer high-quality patient care. Chandra (2016) cites that leaders who empower their followers to act autonomously trust their employees in making decisions they may face.
Effective communication skills
According to Foronda et al. (2016), ineffective communication among healthcare teams is the leading cause of medical errors. In order to enhance patient safety, the team leader should improve communication between them and their team, encourage effective communication. This can be done by providing a platform for uninterrupted report hand-offs, encouraging report hand-offs at the bedside to eliminate gaps in patient information, and fostering an interdisciplinary team approach to patient care.
Clinical skills
Skills in the implementation of evidence-based practice are necessary for the delivery of quality patient care. As DNPU graduates, we conduct and understand the importance of research and the use of the best evidence in the delivery of patient care. Therefore, as leaders, we should be champions in the implementation of evidence-based practice by mentoring nurses and other healthcare workers in providing safe care.
Influences that support philosophical views
Code of ethics
The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics provision one states that nurses should deliver patient care according to the unique attributes of each patient. Empowering staff to enhance patient safety includes teaching them the importance of attending to patients as unique individuals with cultural perspectives, social needs, and physical needs. Besides, the ANA Code of Ethics states that each patient should be treated with respect and dignity despite the differences in the beliefs of the healthcare care worker from the patients’. Also, provision six of the ANA Code of Ethics states that the nurse should work as an individual or collectively to establish, maintain, and improve the work setting that is conducive to safe and quality patient care (Olson & Stokes, 2016) As a nurse leader, to attain enhanced patient care, the environment of nursing staff should be enhanced by attending to the unique needs of each member
Philosophy as a way of life
Philosophy leads to the transformation of wisdom. According to Moonaghi et al. (2017), philosophy enables a person to think differently. Enhancing patient safety is not merely following institutional policies. Instead, it requires the integration of institutional policies, conducting research on ways to improve patient safety, and the implementation of evidence-based practice.
Philosophy is a method in nursing.
My philosophy enables me to analyze, critique, debate, and challenge clinical situations that may jeopardize patient safety. Philosophy is an essential tool for nurses that allows them to be moral agents in the clinical settings and enables them to recognize and deliberate on their moral responsibilities (Moonaghi et al. 2017).
The relevance of Philosophy to DNP Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking
DNP graduates have a role in improving patient and healthcare outcomes using organizational and systems leadership. Leading staff in the enhancement of patient safety requires practice, continuous improvement of patient outcomes, and ensuring patient safety. Therefore, the DNP graduate leader should have sophisticated skills in evaluating organizational and systems issues and facilitate organizations’ change in practice delivery (Ahmed et al. 2018).
The relevance of philosophy to DNP essential VIII: advanced nursing practice
Essential VIII states that all DNP graduates should possess refined skills to conduct a comprehensive assessment of health and diseases in complex situations while remaining sensitive to cultural diversities. Also, they should design, implement, and assess medical interventions according to nursing and other disciplines related to patient care (Ahmed et al. 2018). Enhancing patient care requires that the leader has skills to determine if the care delivered is safe or not by the use of clinical judgment and evaluating evidence-based practice.
References
Ahmed, S. W., Andrist, L. C., Davis, S. M., & Fuller, V. J. (Eds.). (2018). DNP Education, Practice, and Policy: Mastering the DNP Essentials for Advanced Nursing Practice. Springer Publishing Company.
Chandra, T. (2016). The Influence of Leadership Styles, Work Environment and Job Satisfaction of Employee Performance–Studies in the School of SMPN 10 Surabaya. International Education Studies, 9(1), 131-140.
Erickson, J. I., Ditomassi, M., & Adams, J. M. (2018). Developing the Leadership Skill Set for the Executive Nurse Leader. DNP Education, Practice, and Policy: Mastering the DNP Essentials for Advanced Nursing Practice, 161.
Fischer, S. A. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(11), 2644-2653.
Foronda, C., MacWilliams, B., & McArthur, E. (2016). Interprofessional communication in healthcare: An integrative review. Nurse education in practice, 19, 36-40.
Moonaghi, H. K., Valizadehzare, N., & Khorashadizadeh, F. (2017). PhD programs in nursing in Iran and Canada: A qualitative study. JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 67(6), 863.
Marshall, E. S. (2010). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. Springer Publishing Company.
Olson, L. L., & Stokes, F. (2016). The ANA code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements: Resource for nursing regulation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(2), 9-20.
Ross, D. B., Matteson, R., & Exposito, J. (2014). Servant leadership to toxic leadership: Power of influence overpower of control.
Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (Eds.). (2017). Quality and safety in nursing: A competency approach to improving outcomes. John Wiley & Sons.