NRSG375 - Clinical Leadership Online Discussion Forum Posts

Online Forum Posts

Post1: Clinical leadership is not an important consideration to a graduate RN. It is more important to increase my confidence and improve my clinical skills to be a competent clinician. Critically reflect and discuss in your first online post.

 The prime focus of a graduate nurse should be in providing the best quality care to patients, which is only possible if they develop the qualities of good clinical leadership. It is because nurses could possess impeccable clinical skills and unbeatable competency. However, a lack of leadership skills such as approachability, support, effective communication, and lack of confidence can severely impact the quality of care they propose to the patients (Stanley and Stanley, 2018). The recent study also reports that the nursing staff using informal leadership behaviors in their practice directly and positively influenced the quality of care they have given to patients (Boamah, 2019). Although clinical competency is considered one of the essential skills nurses require to provide improved patient care, any graduate nurse who is not approachable, supportive, and confident in his ability can fail regarding improved patient care outcomes. Therefore, clinical leadership must be an essential consideration for both graduate and experienced nurses.

Post2: Autonomy and accountability are inherent to nursing as a profession. How do these professional expectations related to leadership qualities enable the RNs practice? Critically reflect and discuss this for your second online post.

           Autonomy and accountability are essential characteristics of the nursing profession, which helps the nurse leaders to enable best clinical practice for quality patient care and safety. Autonomy in nursing is associated with the authority to participate in decision-making and clinical judgments based on their professional knowledge and competency while caring for patients to improve care processes for quality patient care and safety (Pursio et al., 2021). On the other hand, accountability is about taking responsibility for own actions while caring for the patients. So, the nurses have a duty of care to their patients for their actions, decisions, and quality of care and are answerable to their patients, employer, and professional regulatory body (Chesterton et al., 2021). Therefore, autonomy and accountability help the nurses for independent decision-making led by their professional knowledge and experiences and be confident to take responsibility for own's action regarding patient care.

Post3: What elements enable and enhance positive change and innovation in the health care environment, should I be contributing to as a graduate RN? Critically reflect and discuss this for your third online post.

                                    Registered nurses act as an essential factor in bringing innovation and change in healthcare because nurses closely monitor patients' conditions, take vital observations, and update their status to the physicians (Burke, 2019). Developing effective leadership behaviors can significantly help graduate nurses enhance positive change and innovation in healthcare (Thomas, Seifert, and Joyner, 2016). Self-awareness about their strengths and weaknesses helps the new nurses develop therapeutic relationships with their patients, which ultimately helps build a therapeutic environment for care and healing. Critical thinking is another essential element for graduate nurses that helps them identify information about the patients' underlying issues and explore innovative solutions which can be used to improve the quality of patient care and safety (Thomas, Seifert, and Joyner, 2016). In addition, resilience is an essential element that all new graduate nurses must learn. It helps the new nurses to guide through the complex process of accepting and adopting innovative changes (Thomas, Seifert, and Joyner, 2016).