HBD4759 | Managing Stress at Work Within Community Setting For Nurses

Introduction

Many times, we find professionals undergoing a lot of pressure and stress in their workplace due to the lack of proper leadership and management in an organization. The nursing field is so broad that if appropriate scheduling and teamwork are not embraced, then this can result to stress at work. One of the best ways to eliminate or manage stress is by having good managers and leaders as well as working as a team to achieve the vision of the organization together with the provision of quality health care services to the patients in need of it. Leadership refers to the act of directing or instructing a group of individuals to perform a particular task in the required manner. The main factor of leadership entails impelling group activities as well as coping with transformation. It becomes difficult when it comes to leadership in health professionals because most of the theories that were developed, were not considering healthcare context instead they focused on business and then applied on healthcare. Researches done concerning the leadership of health professionals as directed by those theories show very little evidence that leadership is linked with advancement in patient care and managerial results once applied in the healthcare situation. Additionally, highly developed health care centers which have got many businesses within it taking place, demands for management skills of high quality (Pillay, 2008).

Consequently, to manage this complex health care centers outstandingly, the appointed health experts in management must be fully competent with the best managerial skills and also, being aware of the difficulties experienced in health care. Management in health entails a wide range of areas that need to be monitored; this suggests that career training and individual traits are not enough when it comes to appointing the managers and leaders in any health professionals. A thorough training education in managing and leading in health profession has to be done to any person desiring to undertake this role in health care. This paper aims to set grounds for critical examination of healthcare leadership, management, types of leadership and management needed in health profession especially in nursing, education and training for health leadership and management, theories based on health leadership and management, as well as the importance of both leadership and management in health (Ensley, Hmieleski and Pearce, 2006).

Leadership in the nursing profession

Leadership is a significant skill for nurses regardless of the level. Nevertheless, this may sound so obvious especially for those having positions that allow them to have direct leadership and managerial responsibilities. However, it is essential to bear in mind that even most currently qualified health practitioners to require the courage and skills to enable them to lead nursing students as well as other nursing colleagues like healthcare assistants. Similarly, senior nurses are those probably are involved in a multiple of leadership activities during their daily duty are required to have skills of highest value (Chao, Shih and Hsu, 2016).

Leadership roles of senior nurses

One of the major duties of a senior nurse is to support other nurses to apply the knowledge they have when rendering health services and to motivate them to try new skills in a safe and helpful situation (Leggat, Balding and Schiftan, 2015). This act helps to build competent professionals via applied based learning. Senior nurses are required to embrace a nurturing leadership protocol which shows the action of mentoring, training and direction to those under them. Research conducted on the impact of leaders on the workforce shows that proper support and encouragement from leaders helps to eliminate emotional fatigue, boredom, lack of motivation as well as negative thinking concerning the workplace environment. Hence, it would be more significant for the leaders to give emotional motivation to the staff they are supervising and continuously make them aware of their performance to help them build self-esteem. Ward environment is a very tensional area to most of the recent nurses who are practicing for the first time after studies. To relieve this feeling of incompetent to them requires a leader who is committed and supportive to ensure that they are well mentored by the experienced nurses within the workplace (Hsu, Chang and Hsieh, 2015). Often, we hear of mistreatment of the less experienced health practitioners by the experienced ones who can end up discouraging them entirely and always feel burdens in their profession.

Another duty of senior nurses is to expedite and inspire. This shows us that, all leaders are seen as an essential tool for the smooth running of any organization. Researcher called Adair come up with a model known as a three-circle model of tactical leadership, where the three circles representing the individual, the team and the task (Barker, 2014). Adair trusts that knowledge only cannot be adequate to direct something though in the absence of it leading is impossible. Leaders are supposed to recognize both group and people need and be in a position to respond to them accordingly. Adair continuous to explain that each of the three in his model does interact with each other. Adair’s model is very democratic in leadership since there is a choice in all the options available to determine who can do the task. Generally, all leadership models are beneficial gears for senior nurses and aids to place the role of leadership into a better perception. The model should help the nursing leaders to have effective leadership skills that will yield good results about their work of providing health care to the patients. Leadership entails doing the right tasks since it assists in ascending the ladder of victory; it is a matter of determining if the ladder is tilting in the required position to get where the target point is (Bush and Glover, 2014).

Team building

Team building involves the skills that can help one to lead effectively and excellently (Lynch, McCance, McCormack & Brown, 2018). Every nursing sector comprises of people serving in different duties to meet the needed work effectively. The rate of success attained is regularly determined depending on the strength and dimness of the nurse leader and the capability to motivate and encourage others. The most important ideas that every nurse in leadership is supposed to know is that a single person cannot be able to best results alone. It is to this way as a leader that behind every excellent person is a team of people who empower their leader and provide ways for goal achievement via combined efforts. If a leader is used of making decisions personally without consultations from the team members might end up being seen as a dictator. This because the colleagues think that they are being looked down upon and the leader sees no importance to their ideas and experiences. The department of nursing achieves more goals when they work in a team. Every senior nurse leader must assist others to work effectively so that they can meet the vision of the team. Two aspects are vital when a nurse leader want to move from leading a group of independent individuals to creating team workers, which includes attitude and vision (Clements et al., 2015).

Types of leadership in nursing

Democratic leadership. In this kind of leadership, the leaders have got the best traits and skills of handling their people. These leaders concentrate mainly on serving their employees and listening to any issue which might be disturbing them. They have got several admirable behaviors like being open to their communication as well showing respect and value to every worker. This leader is ever committed and leads with a lot of confidence.

Affiliative leadership.  This leadership is not the best to everyone since it looks to be more concerned with business activities and neglects all that is a need for the workers to feel motivated, especially if they are in a stressing environment. However, an Affiliative leader is most needed in the health institutions that are suffering from low morale.

Authoritarian leadership. This is a type of a leader who is mostly very harsh and stuns. Generally, these leaders are not the best because they always decide on their own and does not involve the worker as well as failing to give responses about the working of the team. They fail to motivate the workers, and in most cases, they command the team rather than requesting.

Coaching leadership. It is the best leadership since it focuses on developing the skills of the leaders and motivating in areas of strength to their workers.

Servant leadership.  This kind of a leader leads by example where in most cases he or she is found assisting in the accomplishment of the duties of the nursing. Though these kind of leaders are rare to find, they help a lot when they are in any organization.

Situational leadership. In this leadership, it demands one have the talent of thinking critically on the bases of handling the team. These leaders are very flexible when it comes to the handling of any issue of the organization. They use their skills and tactics in order to achieve the goals of healthcare. 

Features of an operative leader

 A good listener. Successful leadership is attained by leaders who are always ready to listen attentively to anyone who might be talking to them.

A tolerant mentor. Leaders should be models to the team they are leading and displaying thirst of desiring to do their best in the tasks allocated to them.

Expresses sympathy. A good leader takes the feeling as well as perspectives of individuals they lead into account. Leaders are supposed to be aware that everybody regardless of their level or status requires respect from them.

Supportive of their staff. Every successful team is the one that is led by a supportive and a motivating leader. Leaders mean a lot when it comes to the working of the staff and quality of work done at any particular point. Senior nurses should support the other nurses fully below their ranks to ensure that patients get care that is worthy credibility.

Management in the health sector

Healthcare management is an occupation that offers guidance and direction institutions that render personal health care services, the faculties, departments as well as services within that institution. Since institutions of health care are very complex and active throughout, the institutions need that the managers offer guidance, supervision, and harmonization of workforces (Department of Health, 2015). Institutions are created to achieve targets that are greater than the capability of any person. In the health sector, the extent and complexity of duties performed in the provision of services are so huge that individual team operating lonely could not complete the work. Furthermore, everything that involves the provision of health care demands coordination by specialized personnel who are expected to work tirelessly and in unity seamlessly. Management is required to assure that organizational duties are being performed in the best manner as possible to facilitate attainment of health goals and that enough resources, including funds and human resources, are sufficient to assist the health organization (Creed, DeJordy and Lok, 2010).

Health managers are elected to stations of authority where they shape the health organization by building vital decisions. For instance, relate to appointment and establishment of working staff, acquiring technology, service increment or decrement, and budgeting and utilization of fund resources. Furthermore, all decision that is made by health managers does not only aim at ensuring that patient gets the most prominent services effectively and timely but also discourse attainment of the set target that is admirable by the managers (Graffin, Haleblian and Kiley, 2016). Eventually, decisions made by a single manager can affect the institution overall achievement and performance. They are two helpful domains that every manager should put in consideration as they do their duties and make decisions which include external domain and internal domain. External domain simply refers to the factors, properties, and activities that are outside the borderline of the health organization but which importantly touches the organization. These elements involve the needs of the society, population characteristics, and the contributions from the marketable insure (Begun, Zimmerman and Dooley, 2003).

On the other hand, the internal domain entails the area of the target that managers require to talk about and guide every day. They include making sure that the required number and type of specialist are available, funds operation, and standard health care is being practised (Thomas and While, 2007). All these internal elements are the ones that determine the operation of the health institution where the managers have the most control. In the nursing, we have got several managerial positions which include administrator, manager, business officer, director, food services, admissions coordinator, supervisors as well as environmental services (McMullen, Shepherd and Patzelt, 2009).

The focus on health management

The best healthcare management entails practising professional decision and skills as well as exercising the managerial function that has been mentioned earlier in this essay. Three levels that control areas of emphasizes in management are self, team, and the size of the organization. The self-level is where the manager is expected to be able to manage him or herself. The manager must be able to manage funds, time, materials and facilities, information, as well as being accountable for every activity where he or she has been entrusted to enact. Furthermore, the manager should ensure that they maintain a positive attitude with the team and keep motivating the workers. The most important aspect for every manager to keep informed of all current activities concerning healthcare and make amendment where possible (Carr, Maeda, Oughton & Weiss, 2018).

Ability to manage oneself also entails establishing and applying correct technical, conceptual as well as interpersonal skills and being competent with them. A manager is supposed to have all these qualities to shift to the higher level of supervising. The next level of emphasis in management is teamwork which requires the manager to control others fully about the completion of work assigned to them. It does not matter the level one is in the management, but the thing is that once a manager you will be managing people. The responsibilities comprise of assigning of duties to the people, monitoring performance at work, making changes where necessary and reviewing all the information as the institution needs it. Achievement shows the interaction that is within the manager and employees. The final level in management is the organisation level which is composed of the ability of the manager to make everything run smoothly within the health sector (Leslie and Canwell, 2010). In this level, we expect that the manager is going to work together with the team they are leading to attain the set goals in that particular field of work. It is not good for the manager to seem as if they are not part of workers and sit down with files in the offices doing thing a lot nothing. An organization that attains the goals they have set are the ones whose managers work as part of the tasks in the organization. We encourage consultation, sharing of information, cooperative decision making and good interaction with every individual at work (Atwal and Caldwell, 2006).

Conclusion

Every organisation required to have a committed team of leaders and managers for it to achieve the goals that are set for it. Stressing environment leads to the poor result of the overall institution and should be avoided at all cost (Rodrigues and Chaves, 2008). In nursing, so many tasks are done which cannot be accomplished in the absence of strong leadership and management in general. I recommend that the health organizations should be keen on appointing of the managers as well as a leader because they determine every performance that is needed in the organization. Selection of the leaders and managers should not be based on the personal characteristics only, but also one’s skills and abilities to coordinate the duty entrusted to them.

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