Part A
Attributes of an Effective Clinical Leader
In a healthcare setting where the service giver needs to achieve optimal patient outcomes, effective clinical leadership is essential to enhance a good working environment for the nursing staff. A patient care department is a vital component of a health facility because patients are taken through their treatment regime. For the treatment process to give optimal outcomes, the caregivers should be able to perform their assigned duties precisely and in a professional manner. The Clinical leader’s overall role is to coordinate and guide the nurses on the best procedures to follow as they perform their duties. He/she should be able to possess the following attributes: –
Inspirational Character
An effective clinical leader should possess an inspirational persona that has characteristics like charisma, honesty, optimism, and respect. He/she should lead in a style that his/her juniors can draw inspiration from. Most healthcare staff refer to their careers as a calling. They do their jobs mostly out of the passion they have for the profession. It is, therefore, imperative for a team leader in this profession to be able to gain confidence and trust in the staff under his/her wing. This is especially he/she needs his staff to be committed and responsible as they carry out their duties.
An inspirational Clinical leader should have a clear vision of where his department is heading in terms of patient-focused care. Been focused and giving inspired guidance to nurses in his/her wing gives them a sense of confidence and focus, which translates to the nurses according to the patient’s optimal care. This results in the patient’s treatment process been achieved with the best results.
A clinical leader who does not inspire his/her juniors will result in a workplace that is littered with disorganization, confusion, and staff who keep on second-guessing themselves. This leads to the patient’s treatment regime that is not followed accordingly; hence patient care will be dismal and below par.
Good, effective Communicator.
The nursing profession calls for the various personnel to be in constant communication with each other to be appraised of the patient’s treatment progress and plan the way forward. An effective Clinical leader should be able to focus and fully grasp what his/her juniors are conveying to him/her. He/she should have the ability to adapt his/her communication style fit with that of each of his nurses under his/her wing. This helps him/her to get as much information out of each of his/her staff members as possible. That information is then used to guide each staff on the best process to follow in patient-care.
An effective communicator is empathetic, non-sarcastic, asks his/her juniors, but does not command or direct and does not condescendingly talk to juniors. He/she respects what the juniors are saying even though he/she may not agree with the message. When the communication process in a nursing wing is smooth and effective, it creates a collaborative working environment and team-oriented, which is essential for getting optimal patient care. It means the team leader can effectively get information about the patient’s conditions and their treatment progress, and so he/she can guide the nurses on the best route to follow for each patient care process.
Lack of effective communication skills in a clinical leader to his/her juniors can result in a dysfunctional unit since the nurses will have to act on their judgment most of the time while caring for patients. This can result in tedious care processes for patients.
Engagement with other parties.
An effective clinical leader should be able to engage and liaise with other stakeholders in the healthcare system in his/her leadership processes. The leader should be in constant engagement with other health sector players like healthcare organizations, pharmaceuticals, healthcare academics, policymakers, law enforcement, patient’s family members, and others. By engaging and collaborating with these stakeholders, the clinical leader ensures that he/she is fully updated on the various aspects of healthcare products and services. This, in turn, translates to the leader be able to guide the nurses on the best treatment processes for the patients under their care.
A clinical leader who is engaging in his/her duties will always ensure that the unit he/she heads is still up-to-date in terms of all aspects of patient healthcare treatment processes. The nurses under him will work with confidence since they know they can always ask their boss if they need his/her input. A leader who is not engaging with other stakeholders will lead a unit whose treatment processes are outdated and rigid. This will lead to dismal outcomes of the patient’s treatment.
Trustworthiness
Trust is the basis of any healthy relationship, whether that relationship is personal or professional. An effective clinical leader should be able to gain, maintain, and advance trust between him and the nurses working under him/her. Trust is built from elements like courage, integrity, and stability, which are essential for any leader in any profession. A leader of integrity operates with principles, is highly reliable, and is honest in his dealings. Courageous leaders are ones who can face situations without fear of failure. A stable leader is one who can consistently solve various problems and handle multiple situations without second-guessing themselves.
For a Clinical leader to be effective, he/she needs to inspire trust to his/her staff and also gain their trust. This ensures that the juniors can always trust him/her with any situation that arises in the course of discharging their duties. More crucial in the health care sector, a junior who believes his/her clinical leader will consult him/her on a specific case that he/she is not sure of how to handle without fear of reprimanding. They will also be ready to disclose to their leader incase they err in a patient’s treatment procedure and seek guidance on the best way to rectify the error. That way, the situation can be arrested before it escalates to the detriment of the patient’s health.
A clinical leader is sure that his nurses will always be free to approach him and discuss any situation by cementing a high level of trust. This works towards getting optimal patient outcomes. On the contrary, a leader who does not inspire trust to his/her juniors will result in the employees under him/her been hesitant to broach issues especially if they are afraid of been reprimanded. This, in turn, leads to a workplace where the nurses often result in second-guessing themselves instead of consulting with their boss. This may lead to escalations in the patient’s health conditions and dismal outcomes of the patient’s treatment processes.
PART B
Nurses handle health systems and patients of all types. The most challenging patients need to be taken care of in a strategic manner such that there are no mistakes. For a nurse who has made errors before, they might feel that they are incompetent. It is, therefore, important for the nurses to be thoroughly engaged to ensure they are competent enough so that they do not lose confidence when carrying out their daily tasks. The nurses can use risk stratification tools to triage patients who could gain the most out of it. The nurse can use various strategies to make sure that they meet the required standards of patient care. Some of the strategies that the nurse can utilize include;
The nurse can work towards improving hand-offs and communication amid the sophisticated care team and the patients who need complex care. The nurse can also employ strategies to offer complex care to patients, but they need to ensure that they are proficient in their services to avoid unnecessary mistakes.
The nurse providing complex care is supposed to employ communication strategy when providing care for the patients and maintain good communication between the carer and the specialists. The latter is highly important, especially during the critical moments such as before any clinical progressions, fresh treatments and during trips to the emergency room.
Utilization of care plan-this refers to a summary of the history of a patient, medication, the names of the doctors that should be attending the patient and any other vital information that can be utilized by the caregiver in this case especially if the nurse is giving care for the first time to this patient in the case. The latter will assist in improving credibility for the caregiver.
Medication and symptom record keeping- this is essential and a must for the caregivers who provide handle a patient that needs complex care. The nurse is supposed to maintain and keep the records safe. The records are vital since they assist in communicating information to doctors and other members of the care system.
Attending Care conferences within the vicinity of the healthcare institution- this strategy would b important for the nurse since it brings nurses together to talk about the complex patients. The conferences are not held regularly. The conferences would be necessary for this nurse, for he could ask questions and listen to new ideas concerning care strategies for patients with complex needs, and this could change their way of attending patients.
Seeking opinions from the doctors-The nurse can employ this tactic of seeking second opinions from the doctors or even from the other caregivers. Seeking an alternative opinion would be vital since it would assist the nurse in avoiding any errors
Provision of optimal care: The nurse can opt to provide optimal care by performing roles that are essential to the patients and rewarding them. The primary elements that the nurse can employ when administering optimal care include; coordination of care and building trust in patients. The latter are key elements that can be used in any nursing intervention.
Coordinating care strategy- The nurse can take this important role by ensuring that he or she manages discussions with the patient. Discussing with the patients is important since they would assist the nurse in understanding the patient. The discussion would also be important since it would influence the health outcomes of the patient.
Developing Trust
The development of trust between a patient and a caregiver is essential. The nurse can avoid errors during caregiving by ensuring that he provides optimal care. Building trust needs one to do a self-reflection when attending complex patients, especially the ones who have communication challenges.
Getting to familiarize with the patients
The nurse can take the personal strategy of getting to familiarize herself with the patients. After the nurse understands the social issues that the patient faces and their psychosomatic status. Understanding the complex patients from this perspective will be important to the caregiver. It will assist him in prioritizing the issues facing the complex patient and assisting the nurse in making healthcare decisions that align with their goals and objectives.
Frequent visitation and prioritization of issues
The caregiver is supposed to frequent visits to the patient to prevent crises, possible lapses in the medication and treatment, and hospitalization. The caregiver can prioritize issues when he visits the patient. The nurse should try to focus on the problems that can affect the patient’s entire life and the quality of life.
Proper administration of drugs
When the caregiver is administering medication, he should ensure that he has very little or no distraction since distractions can lead to medication errors. The nurse should be careful when using the barcoding medication scanning system since it permits the nurse to verify the medication rights. The nurse should be keen on concluding with the interdisciplinary team, including the pharmacy, to ensure that the medicines that look alike are not stored together.
Conclusion
In a nursing care institution, and effective nursing care is important since it leads to improved patient satisfaction and consequently promotes the quality of life. The patient care department is vital in the healthcare system since it ensures that patients get the best quality care needed. The caregivers in this department are, therefore, required to have the necessary proficiency in handling patients. A nurse should be a person of self-charisma that should be depicted by the way the nurse shows honesty in her duties, in their empathy with the patients, and in the way they show respect to the patients. Caregivers are also supposed to be good communicators since the nursing profession requires constant communication with fellow workers. A caregiver is also supposed to be trustworthy when dealing with the patients and the other nurses too. A caregiver might have made mistakes in the past, and they need to be careful when handling complex patients. There are several strategies that these caregivers can employ to enhance patient satisfaction and improve the quality of life, as discussed in the paper.