Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing industries. From a simple system of herbal medicines and home remedies to an immensely complex, technology-driven sector, the healthcare industry’s evolution has been remarkable. And given the rate of technological advancements, it is safe to say that it is likely to progress even further in the future.
However, with emerging changes comes the need for alterations in the roles of healthcare professionals. One of these alterations is the promotion of nurse leadership. Although highly unrecognized, nurses are an essential part of the healthcare sector. In reality, without nurses and their assistance, the healthcare sector would become exceedingly inefficient.
As the healthcare industry becomes more and more complex, the need for nurse leaders increases. Besides, nurse leaders can make quantifiable differences in enhancing patient care.
Let us now discuss why encouraging nurse leadership is essential.
Nurse leaders inspire others
As mentioned above, people often undermine a nurse’s authority. They consider them as mid-level employees of the healthcare sector with little to no task autonomy.
However, if nurses start taking on leadership roles, the entire dynamic could change for the better. Not only will nurses be able to do their job more confidently, but they will also play a significant role in mentoring others. They will become inspiring figures for other nurses resulting in better outcomes and higher productivity. It will also restore many peoples’ faith in the profession, leading to increased demand for nursing and mentorship programs.
Nonetheless, it is crucial to note that nurse leadership doesn’t only fall under patient care. Nurses can become leaders in other positions as well. For instance, they could take on the role of a clinical project manager and lead research studies to improve healthcare outcomes.
Nurse leadership can improve quality care for patients
Studies show that patients spend almost 86% of their time with nurses compared to 13% with physicians. Such statistics prove that nurses interact the most with patients and can build stronger relationships considerably quickly. In most cases, even the patients start trusting nurses depending on the quality of care they receive.
Effective leadership in nursing can guarantee better patient care and promote a culture of safety, leading to far better patient outcomes. Since nurses play such an integral role in a patient’s medical journey, it’s evident that they have a more significant function here. Hence, allowing nurses to take on leadership roles can benefit patients, their families, doctors, and the entire organization.
Nurse leaders are agile
Agility is a highly crucial leadership skill required in all medical staff. It leads to increased adaptability, enhanced alignment, decreased risk, and better productivity. An agile workforce shows quick mobilization, is more responsive and is highly collaborative.
Nurse leaders are supposedly the most agile individuals in the entire healthcare team. Agility allows nurse leaders to make quick decisions, implement rapid changes, and perform tasks that benefit both the patient and the organization. It also fosters innovation, enhances communication, improves focus on quality output, and empowers teamwork.
An agile approach could also assist in rethinking and restructuring patient care. It promotes the formation of care models that align with patients’ and their families’ expectations and healthcare professionals’ goals and needs.
Nurse leaders are proactive
Similar to agility, proactivity is also an essential component of healthcare. Proactivity ensures pre-preparation for unexpected instances. It allows for flexibility, plays a crucial role in identifying new inventions, and assists with a better internal understanding of situations.
Proactive nurses give patients what they expect, ultimately gaining their trust and strengthening their relationship. For instance, proactive care reduces duplication, i.e., the patient only needs to narrate their story once. Remember, a robust nurse-patient relationship is a crucial factor in a patient’s medical journey. Proactive care is also safer and more effective and promotes contingency planning.
Nurse leaders are capable of making strategic decisions
The rapid changes in the healthcare system require solid and effective decision-making. Hence, the need for nurses to make big decisions is increasing quickly.
Implementing leadership in nurses can considerably improve effective decision-making. Nurses are proactive; they keep asking questions for more information, know their team inside out, and never proceed until they are entirely sure.
However, nurse leaders must still ensure to use the best decision-making models to guarantee a quality outcome. They must gather, process, and prioritize critical patient information to reach the most beneficial decision.
Nurse leaders can serve as an essential part of critical functions
Nurse leaders can tremendously improve their functionality and prove to be a worthy addition to a team of professionals if given authority. Nurses already serve in essential medical functions, whether organ replacement surgery or carotid endarterectomy.
All kinds of medical operations, procedures, and tests require nurses and their assistance. By giving nurses leadership responsibilities, you will raise their confidence and encourage them to work harder with more concentration and care.
The healthcare industry needs more leaders
Since the healthcare sector requires more leaders, this should be reason enough to promote nurses to leadership roles.
Although technology benefits the healthcare industry by improving processes, it minimizes roles and makes them pretty specific. That means doctors alone are not enough to act as leaders. With more responsibilities, demand for leaders also rises to ensure patient care quality and safety.
Hospitals and other healthcare organizations that understand the need for nurse leadership will implement change more effectively and seamlessly. These institutes understand the impact of organizational change due to technological advances and how nurses can help avoid disruptions. Furthermore, they will also be able to make quality initiatives and promote patient safety.
Conclusion
Nurses are an exceedingly essential part of the healthcare sector, and one cannot express this fact enough. They have the power to change the structure of patient care and improve outcomes entirely. They can make meaningful contributions in critical and complex procedures. They can also thoroughly enhance the environment and foster faster processing and evaluation of results. But all of it is only possible when they take on leadership roles.
Several changes in the healthcare industry have been to benefit patients and medical staff. Giving nurses authority will further aid the cause.
Medical Disclaimer: All the content available on the website is just for informational purposes. It’s not a substitute for any Professional advice. Don’t take it personally. As a medical student, I’m just trying to use my information through my content, and please keep in mind it’s not written by a professional doctor. Use the data just for educational purposes.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and am presently working at a renowned hospital in California. I used my leisure time to share my expertise with others through my blog. In addition to my work in healthcare, I like reading fiction and enjoy writing posts a lot. I want to use my writing to help the health sector on my blog site. You’ll get exclusive informational content about health & Fitness.