How is neoliberalism shaping the context of nursing and healthcare?
Neoliberalism could be defined as the policy aimed at a decrease in the level of governmental interference in different spheres of human activity. In other words, it focuses on the cultivation of independence and such principles as individualism, decentralization, and deregulation (Harvey, 2007). Regarding the healthcare and nursing, neoliberalism introduces new conditions under which health workers have to function. For instance, the neoliberal agenda of the existing health care means cost-cutting for efficiency, decentralization, and its transformation into a particular kind of a good for sale for patients to buy it instead of paying their taxes (Raphael, 2014).
What values are predominant in healthcare today?
One of the central ideas of the modern healthcare sector is the cultivation of the improved quality of a patients life and the provision of safe, compassionate, and competent care to individuals who might need it (Peter, 2013). These primary goals determine values that are predominant in the healthcare sector today. All health workers should value the life of a patient and his/her well-being, privacy, confidentiality, and basic rights (Peter, 2013). In such a way, the shift of priorities towards the humanistic ideas could be observed as nowadays a human being and his/her life are the central values that should be protected.
What are the ethical implications for nursing?
Working with people, a nurse becomes engaged in numerous communication processes and conflicts that are inevitable regarding human nature. Under these conditions, ethical implications become crucial for these health workers. One of the central dilemmas is the protection of patients rights, autonomy, and informed consent to treatment (Hartrick Doane & Varcoe, 2013). Being highly-educated specialists, nurses correctly realize the need for some procedure or treatment. However, they should act with respect to patients desires and preferences which creates a significant ethical dilemma.
Nurse leader
The atmosphere within a collective is one of the most critical factors that impact performance and precondition results. For this reason, it is crucial to find the most appropriate way of distributing tasks, aligning cooperation, and rewarding. Traditionally, there is a nurse leader responsible for these actions and teamwork. As for the current work environment, both transformational and transactional leadership models are used. First, a supervisor adheres to traditional rewarding practices suggesting particular rewards for outstanding performance. It is one of the distinct features of this sort of leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Additionally, the leader uses his disciplinary power to punish workers who might have some problems.
On the other hand, there are also signs of transformational leadership. There is a particular focus on team-building, motivation, and collaboration to acquire improved results and alter the working environment with the primary aim to guarantee the further evolution of the unit (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Moreover, the leader sets outstanding and creative goals to cultivate a new performance culture and provide staff with diverse opportunities for personal and professional growth. In such a way, we can observe the combination of transformational and transactional leadership that becomes extremely efficient in terms of the peculiarities of the healthcare sphere (Wong & Cummings, 2013). All workers demonstrate enhanced skills of teamwork and they also have numerous opportunities for their growth. Fair rewarding practices also contribute to the improved atmosphere within a collective.
Altogether, my supervisor adheres to both transformational and transactional leadership styles to monitor the functioning of his subordinates and create a positive atmosphere within the collective. This approach turns out to be efficient because of the focus on the central aspects of nurses functioning and their responsibilities.
References
Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.
Hartrick Doane, G., & Varcoe, C. (2013). Relational practice and nursing obligations. In J. Storch, P. Rodney, & R. Starzomski (Eds.), Toward a moral horizon: Nursing ethics for leadership and practice (pp. 143-159). Toronto: Pearson Canada.
Harvey, D. (2007). Neoliberalism as creative destruction. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 610(1), 22-44. Web.
Peter, E. (2013). Home health care: Ethics, politics, and policy. In J. Storch, P. Rodney, & R. Starzomski (Eds.), Toward a moral horizon: Nursing ethics for leadership and practice (pp 384-397). Toronto: Pearson Canada.
Raphael, D. (2014). Beyond policy analysis: The raw politics behind opposition to healthy public policy. Health Promotion International, 30(2), 380-396. Web.
Wong, C., & Cummings, G. (2013). The relationship between nursing leadership and patient outcomes: A systematic review. Journal of Nursing Management, 15(5), 508-521.