PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN NURSING

Professional Practice in Nursing

Professional Practice in Nursing

The health care profession is faced with new challenges in the current and even the previous century as more and more minority patients are coming for treatment. Developing future nurse leaders is one of the greatest challenges faced by the nursing profession (Mahoney, 2001).  Powerful leadership skills are needed by all nurses—those providing direct care to those in top management positions.  Anyone who is looked to as an authority (e.g., a nurse taking care of a patient) or who is responsible for giving assistance to others is considered a leader (Mahoney, 2001).

A clinical nursing leader is one who is involved in direct patient care and who continuously improves care by influencing others (Cook, 2001).  Leadership is not merely a series of skills or tasks; rather, it is an attitude that informs behavior (Cook, 2001).  In addition, good leadership is consistent superior performance with long term benefit to all involved.  Leaders are not merely those who control others, but they act as visionaries who help employees to plan, lead, control, and organize their activities (Jooste, 2004). 

Leadership has been defined many ways in the literature.  However, several features are common to most definitions of leadership.  For example, leadership is a process, involves influence, usually occurs in a group setting, involves the attainment of a goal, and leadership exists at all levels (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002).  There are several recognized leadership styles.  Autocratic leaders set an end goal without allowing others to participate in the decision-making process (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002).  Bureaucratic leadership occurs when a leader rigidly adheres to rules, regulations, and policies.  Participative leaders allow staff to participate in decision-making and actively seek out the participation of those involved.  This type of leadership allows team members to feel more committed to the goals they were involved with formulating (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002).  Laissez faire leadership leaves employees to their own devices in meeting goals, and is a highly risky form of leadership.  A more effective form of leadership may be situational leadership.  This is where the leader switches between the above styles depending upon the situation at hand and upon the competence of the followers (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002). 

There is a difference between theory and style of leadership.  According to Moiden (2002), theory represents reality, while style of leadership is the various ways one can implement a theory of leadership—the way in which something is said or done.  Organizations should aim for a leadership style that allows for high levels of work performance, with few disruptions, in a wide variety of situational circumstances, in an efficient manner (Moiden, 2002).  Similarly, there is a difference between management and leadership.  Managers plan, organize and control, while leaders communicate vision, motivate, inspire and empower in order to create organizational change (Faugier & Woolnough, 2002). 

Transactional versus Translational Leadership

Outhwaite (2003) cites definitions of transactional and transformational leadership as posited by Bass in 1990.  Transactional leadership involves the skills required in the effective day to day running of a ...