Nursing
THE NURSE LEADER
Running head: NURSE LEADER
Organizational Analysis-The Nurse Leader
Xxxxx xxxxxx
The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of
N4455 Nursing Leadership and Management
Maryol, Gladys, RN, MHA
October xx, xxxx
RN-BSN Program
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THE NURSE LEADER
Every organization needs a leader to provide the tools, skills, and direction to work
effectively as a team. In the nursing world nurses have leaders known as Nurse Managers who
provide these necessary tools to aspire them to do better and or become leaders themselves one
day. Nurse Leaders are those who have a passion for what they do and are committed to do a
difference with their employees, patients, units they work in, and also the establishment they are
associated with. To be an effective leader they need to possess special qualities such as
communication skills, think critically, handle stress, conflict solver, initiative, integrity, and be a
team player to name a few. In this analysis I will be discussing my nurse leader’s characteristics
and behaviors as the manager of my current unit. The different attributes he has been bringing to
the unit as a new manager and also critiquing the most to least effective elements he has
proposed and implemented.
Nurse Manager
The nurse leader that I have been shadowing is my current D.A (Department
Administrator) of the 5 West Step-Down unit, Konstantinos Alexopoulos, RN, BSN, MBA. He
has past nursing experience as an ER and stepdown nurse. He also wanted to try another field
and decided to get trained as a cath lab nurse in the catherization lab and was there for three
years while at the same time going for his Master’s in Business Administration. An opportunity
opened up and they were looking for an assistant manager in a transitional care unit
rehabilitation center at the Veterans Affair Hospital of Greater Los Angeles. He took the position
and was there for 3 years and then became the interim manager which lasted 7 months prior to
taking the position in my current unit in where he has been the D.A for three months. His
responsibilities as a manager on the floor are budgeting, staffing, auditing, meeting with charge
nurses once a month, service recovery, making sure the staff and unit are in compliance, and
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THE NURSE LEADER
meeting all goals of the organization. His day begins with answering emails, attending morning
huddles, receiving report from the charge nurses of the current census and rounding on the
patients. Throughout the day if he is not in meetings he updates the staff of any upcoming
competencies, checking HCAPS scores and implementing different ways we can increase our
scores. The organization that he stated he is part of is the American Nurses Association (ANA)
professional organization. The ANA represents “the interests of 3.6 million registered
nurses and advances the nursing profession with high standards of nursing practice,
promoting a safe and ethical work environment, and advocating health care issues that
affect nurses and the public” (American Nurses Association, 2016). He also subscribes to
The Nursing Management journals in where he can read “peer-reviewed articles that range
from legal and ethical aspects of nursing leadership to personnel management, recruitment and
retention, budget issues, product selection, and quality control” (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2016).
Nurse Leader
My D. A’s leadership style is democratic; he believes in an open door policy. According
to our book, “individuals motivated internally were the leader uses participation and majority to
get work completed” (Sullivan, 2012, p.110). The way he handles responsibilities is by including
the charge nurses and any other staff that has a leadership position to receive their feedback. As
he implements new ideas for the floor he makes sure to do small meetings with the staff to
announce the new changes and also to hear what we have to say. One example of how he handles
responsibilities as a leader is when it comes to conflict management he stated that he wants a
stress free work place; he does not want the staff to come to work and be worried about the unit’s
dynamics. He wants to be close to the staff and create a productive work environment with no
drama or unresolved conflicts. In order to accomplish this, he wants the staff to leave their
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THE NURSE LEADER
personal problems at home to begin with but also if there is an issue he wants us to go directly to
him and let him know about our concerns. This way he can mediate the situation and come up
with an agreement that all parties are satisfied with. “Avoiding unnecessary conflict or allowing
conflict to fester and remain unresolved undermines the manager’s effectiveness and can result in
dissatisfied staff and turnover” (Sullivan, 2012, pg. 170). I think this is an effective technique
because it avoids the conflict to linger which can create a tense and hostile environment for
everyone working with the arguing parties. Furthermore, as part of the staff members it feels
good to have a manager who is willing to listen and come up with a solution that both parties can
agree with. Another example in our unit we have had issues with mobility lately, our patients are
too deconditioned and end up at nursing facilities which results in higher costs for the hospital.
The Nurse Manager has send out emails letting us know about the importance of documenting
our mobility and also doing it. In order to carry this out he had all the nurses gather in a huddle
and explained what needed to be improved and then asked for our feedback. At the end to
evaluate the action plan he send out another email letting us know that he will soon start to audit
our documentation. I also think this is an effective way to monitor progress of the action plan he
proposed to improve mobility. He also involved us in his decision making progress which allows
the staff to feel that they are part of the team and their opinions matter as well. Another example
that the manager took responsibility for the unit’s deficits was making us more accountable on
answering call lights, responding to monitor alarms and bed exit alarms. In order to carry this out
the manager implemented a new program called CANs, which allows all calls to go directly to
our work phones versus just to the secretary. I am not sure if this has been the most effective
measure, the idea is great but there is a lot of troubleshooting that needs to be done. It is adding
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THE NURSE LEADER
to more alarm fatigue than anything because the phone rings nonstop and even the patients are
starting to complain.
In the next meeting I had with my manager we discussed about team building and what
leadership skills he possessed. As far as for team building he stated that there are many Unit
Based Team (UBT) cohorts. These cohorts are great in managing conflicts that arise in the unit as
well as how to improve patient satisfaction scores and managing nurse fatigue. For leadership
skills he believes he is democratic and an active listener, I’ve seen him make an effort to meet
with each staff member individually. I remember when I met with him in a one to one he asked
how I was doing, my thoughts of the work environment and if there were any issues I would like
to speak to him about. He also asked me if I ever had an issue with a co-worker or patient to
come speak to him and he was there to advocate for me. This is an effective way for building
rapport with the staff and making them feel that they are part of a team. Another leadership skill I
have seen him possess is commitment, when he proposes something he gives it his 110% as he
has stated. He expects his team to do the same as to why he believes in leading by example. I
have seen him in code blue’s getting gloves and doing chest compressions in two occasions and
one time I needed help with a patient climbing out of bed and he was walking by and helped put
the patient back to bed. He states that we are all here for one reason and that’s to provide the best
care for our patients no matter what our titles are.
Communication
There are different forms of communication styles that leaders and staff members can
utilize. One example that my manager shared was downward communication when he delegates
to the charge nurses. This is an effective way to communicate instructions and information to be
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THE NURSE LEADER
shared to the other staff members. Then the manager can receive and give feedback about what
was delegated whether it was successful.
Another communication style is upward communication were the staff communicates
with the manager or someone else in a higher level. The manager gave an example were a nurse
share her concerns about not having enough vital sign machines and glucometers. This was a
workplace conflict because it can be detrimental to our patient’s health status without the proper
equipment. The manager followed up with the nurse’s concern and spoke to the right person
about rectifying this matter which was an effective way to approach this situation.
Lateral communication is also another type of communication a manager can use. This
type of communication is when individuals of the same hierarchy level communicate. An
example of this is when my manager speaks to another manager from another floor or
department. An example he shared with me was that a nurse wanted to commend an EVS
personnel (housekeeping) for always having a positive attitude and willing to help out. My
manager spoke to their manager and passed down the recognition of their employee. Their
manager was very happy to hear about this and thanked our manager for acknowledging their
work. This an effective form of communication to praise other staff members or share any
concerns that our manager can relay to different departments.
Peer communication is important and the manager for example stated that one key of
importance is this type of communication style. The way we communicate has an impact on our
workplace environment. Effective peer-to-peer communication can go a long way toward
helping to establish mutually respectful relationships that can not only improve employee
satisfaction, but that can boost productivity as well. My manager believes that we all need to
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THE NURSE LEADER
treat each other with respect in order to have effective work environment, avoid being defensive,
criticizing your peer and always be honest and direct.
The recommendation I have for my Nurse Manager is that overall he is doing a great job
in the little bit of time he has been with us. The most interaction I have had with him has been
through these assignments and I can tell he is dedicated in making a change for our department.
In regards to communication skills he is good in being an active listener but I have seen him
struggle when he gets upset at times. As much as a team player he tries to be I have gotten
feedback by others that when he is upset he won’t let you justify your actions. My
recommendation for him would be to not take it personal and try to be more empathetic and
understand that we cannot control every single little thing that happens with our patients. All we
have is our documentation and sometimes incidents occur but as long as we follow policies and
procedures and keep our patients as safe as possible that’s all we can do. I know he means well
but his emotions sometimes cloud his judgement and he can sometimes become irrational. I
would recommend him to work on not letting the staff see his frustration because it makes him
unapproachable and intimidating. Overall I expect great things from him and I’m glad he has
joined the team.
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THE NURSE LEADER
References
American Nurses Association. (2016). About ANA. Retrieved from
http://www.nursingworld.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/AboutANA
Sullivan, E. J. (2012). Effective leadership and management in nursing. Boston: Pearson.
Wolters Kluwer Health. (2016). About the Publication : Nursing Management. Retrieved from
http://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Pages/aboutthepublication.aspx
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