Having a qualified and skillful leader is essential in any job, and nursing is not an exception. Being a leader in a healthcare sphere is a crucial role on which healthcare quality services and patient safety depend. Leaders are responsible for making choices and decisions, which can affect people’s lives, as well as the staff’s performance. Recognizing a nurse as a leader involves a few skills:
- Teamwork, which refers to connecting with other healthcare providers and departments in order to ensure the best treatment is used.
- Problem-solving, which involves being informed, educated, and being able to use different approaches according to a particular situation.
- Taking responsibility, meaning being able to stand up for one’s point and be unafraid of challenges.
- Delegating responsibilities to ensure the patients’ needs are met and all the workers are working their best.
- Continuous learning implies always seeking improvement opportunities and possessing the most actual knowledge and skills in the nursing practice.
All the aforementioned qualities of a nurse will help her become a successful leader and be able to provide both the right working conditions for other staff and the best opportunities for patient safety.
The NOF Nursing Core Competencies are based around nursing knowledge. The competencies include Patient-Centered Care, Leadership, Communication, Professionalism, Systems-Based Practice, Teamwork and Collaboration, Informatics and Technology, Safety, Quality Improvement, and Evidence-Based Practice (Massachusetts Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies). All these competencies are equally important because they all together contribute to a nurse being qualified and skilled enough in order to ensure good service quality and patient safety. Personally, I believe these competencies to be the most basic and essential ones to become a professional. All of them are connected to the working process and can directly benefit it.
As for me, I believe safety and quality improvement will be the most significant in my practice. Safety is the top priority of any medical worker, and it will be impossible to do my job without being absolutely sure that I provide safe treatment in safe conditions. Also, I believe there is constant advancement in all spheres of our life, and we need to be aware of all the recent changes. By doing so, I will be able to provide the best and most effective services.
Works Cited
“Massachusetts Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies.” Web.