In the first scenario, the problem lies in the for-profit nursing home sending too many patients to the emergency department (ED). The hospital’s feedback states that these visits to the ED can be prevented, and the nursing home should review its operations in order to find out the reasons behind these transfers. This issue has been examined in medical research, and multiple causes for this issue have been identified. According to Ronald, McGregor, Harrington, Pollock, and Lexchin (2016), the rate of patients being sent to the ED is higher among for-profit nursing homes than public or non-profit organizations.
The authors also find that this rate is closely related to the level of care provided by these organizations. Therefore, the discussed for-profit hospital is likely to have fewer means of delivering proper treatments and assessments than other healthcare facilities. Kirsebom, Hedström, Pöder, and Wadensten (2017) also suggest that hospitals with high transfer rates have less experienced personnel, outdated advance care plans, and other problems. A variety of concerns connected to resources and education should be considered by a nursing leader, thus requiring the nurse in the scenario to use transformational leadership.
The approach of transformational leadership style is based on the inherent belief that workers have the potential to grow as professionals. According to Echevarria, Patterson, and Krouse (2017), such leaders have high emotional intelligence and can guide others towards improvement. In this case, the transformational style can be beneficial to the present nurse, because it allows one to connect with other workers and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
As Kirsebom et al. (2017) find, the majority of problems in for-profit organizations are linked to the lack of knowledge and experience. Transformational leader pursues the goals of continuous improvement – the nurse can employ this strategy to investigate the potential of the organization and find opportunities for better care. The place of leaders in a healthcare organization is to elicit input from other professionals and move them towards a unifying goal (Yoder-Wise, 2015). The position of a manager, however, does not grant this person the status of a leader as well (Spath, 2013). Here, a transformational approach is valuable since its use of emotional intelligence and peer support influence workers and lead to the development of strong ties.
The steps to implementing transformational leadership are based on the strategy’s fundamental principles. There are five main components to this model, each of which is focused on group and individual improvement. First of all, transformational leaders influence employees in positive ways, building respect and inducing pride (Echevarria et al., 2017). The nurse can use this skill to examine how nurses treat their facility and patients and to which degree are they ready to treat patients using their own knowledge.
The next point refers to behaviors, where leaders create a sense of purpose and value for others as well as consider the consequences of the staff’s actions. A transformational nursing leader can analyze patient outcomes of ED visits and find their causes. In order to motivate nurses to improve and update their policies, the nurse can utilize intellectual stimulation and inspiration. Finally, the aspect of individual consideration utilized in the transformational style grants the leader an ability to act as a mentor to each staff member (Echevarria et al., 2017). As a result, the nurse, in this case, will connect with other nurses and use the leadership status to inspire change.
References
Echevarria, I. M., Patterson, B. J., & Krouse, A. (2017). Predictors of transformational leadership of nurse managers. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(3), 167-175.
Kirsebom, M., Hedström, M., Pöder, U., & Wadensten, B. (2017). Transfer of nursing home residents to emergency departments: Organizational differences between nursing homes with high vs. low transfer rates. Nursing Open, 4(1), 41-48.
Ronald, L. A., McGregor, M. J., Harrington, C., Pollock, A., & Lexchin, J. (2016). Observational evidence of for-profit delivery and inferior nursing home care: When is there enough evidence for policy change? PLoS Medicine, 13(4), e1001995.
Spath, P. (2013). Introduction to healthcare quality management (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2015). Leading and managing in nursing (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.