NRS 415 Benchmark – Applying Leadership and Management Principles

Sample Answer for NRS 415 Benchmark – Applying Leadership and Management Principles Included After Question

Assessment Description

The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the various approaches nursing leaders employ when addressing issues in practice.

Select an issue from the following list: workplace violence, workplace injury, unit restructuring, floating, nurse turnover, nurse staffing ratios, or use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses).

In a 1,000-1,250-word paper, discuss the following:

1. Describe the issue you selected. Provide data to support how this issue impacts the quality of care in the setting in which it occurs.
2. Using research evidence for support, present one possible solution that could be implemented to address the issue. In your discussion, be sure to include financial considerations as they relate to implementation of the solution.
3. Describe a leadership style that would best address the issue.
4. Discuss how this leadership style compares to your personal leadership style.
5. Compare two different leadership theories that could be applied to resolution of the issue. Explain how each theory would be effective in addressing the issue.
6. Discuss the nurse’s role within an interdisciplinary team in promoting patient quality and safety while fostering professionalism to address this issue.

You are required to cite a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be appropriate for the assignment and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

RN-BSN

10.3: Develop capacity for leadership.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education

This assignment aligns to AACN Core Competencies 1.1, 2.5, 2.9, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.2, 10.3.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NRS 415 Benchmark – Applying Leadership and Management Principles

Title: NRS 415 Benchmark – Applying Leadership and Management Principles

Healthcare facilities should be safe care environments for patients and healthcare providers. A dominant feature of such workplaces is the absence of issues that inhibit nurses’ health and productivity. Unfortunately, workplace issues of varying types and magnitudes still occur in nursing. Understanding their causes, manifestations, and solutions is crucial for nursing professionals and leaders. In the dynamic nursing profession, visionary leadership is essential to guide healthcare providers in designing and implementing sustainable solutions for practice issues. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the various approaches nursing leaders employ when addressing issues in practice.

Selected Issue in Nursing Practice

Workplace violence is a significant issue in nursing that cannot be overlooked at any time. Its prevalence is high and can potentially hamper care quality and patient care if not effectively controlled. Yosep et al. (2023) described workplace violence as an incident leading to staff abuse, threat, or assault when working. Such incidents include aggressive behaviors from patients, intimidation, and harassment. Healthcare statistics show that approximately 76% of healthcare professionals experience some form of violence, with physical violence being as high as 33.4% of the reported incidents (Yosep et al., 2023). The impacts are profound, underlining the need for robust, evidence-based interventions to identify, prevent, and report workplace violence. Among victims, workplace violence is associated with high job stress, dissatisfaction, and burnout (Kafle et al., 2022; Bernandes et al., 2021). These outcomes hamper nurses’ work life, decreasing productivity and care quality. Fear, poor nurse-patient relationships, and high turnover intentions are typical in nursing environments characterized by regular incidents of workplace violence.

Workplace violence is an occupational hazard detrimental to nurses’ health and well-being. Its prevention should be prioritized in healthcare settings while empowering nurses to respond effectively. A possible solution that could be implemented to address workplace violence is a zero-tolerance policy (Kafle et al., 2022). Such a policy ensures that healthcare institutions and employees do not tolerate workplace violence of any form, including abuse, incivility, and bullying. Implementing a zero-tolerance policy denotes outlining what it constitutes and formulating guidelines on its reporting and disciplinary actions against perpetrators. From a financial perspective, policy implementation is not costly since it requires clear laws and procedures to guide and regulate behaviors. However, organizations should set aside some finances for counseling victims and regular educational programs on workplace violence.

Leadership Style to Address Issue

Leadership styles determine how well nurse leaders address workplace issues. The transformational approach is the most effective leadership style to address workplace violence in a primary care setting. According to Niinihuhta et al. (2022), transformational leadership involves inspiring and motivating followers to accomplish a particular goal. In this case, healthcare leaders and staff should collaborate to prevent workplace violence instead of the leader directing and delegating tasks. Bureau et al. (2021) supported transformational leadership in addressing workplace violence since it moderates the intersection between deviant behavior and job performance. This style shares many aspects with my leadership approach since I highly regard the importance of team-based and goal-driven interventions. Irrespective of the situation, a motivated team working to accomplish a shared goal is the most effective in clinical settings for the best outcomes.

Leadership Theories to Address Issue

Leadership theories outline the traits and actions necessary for guiding individuals and groups to accomplish a given task. Effective leadership is crucial in collaborative decision-making, enhanced patient care, and team-driven nursing. A suitable leadership theory for addressing workplace violence is the transformational leadership theory. This theory asserts that leaders should empower and develop followers while inspiring them to achieve their full potential (Niinihuhta et al., 2022). The leader also needs to engage and encourage followers to work toward a common goal, an approach essential in effective response to workplace violence. Comparatively, workplace violence could be addressed via a democratic approach. The democratic leadership theory’s central tenet is the leader plays a facilitative role and respects team members’ values and contributions equally (Qtait, 2023). Democratic leadership encourages shared decision-making, implying that leaders and employees work as equal members. Such an approach could be effective in addressing workplace violence as team members identify appropriate policy and disciplinary actions and make decisions based on the majority vote.

Medical Errors and a Just Culture

Medical errors are significant in nursing since they increase healthcare costs and reduce patients’ trust in care providers. Medical errors are widespread among nurses experiencing burnout, fatigue, and high job dissatisfaction. This is because poor physical, mental, and emotional health inhibits nurses’ concentration while serving patients. Yang et al. (2023) positively linked workplace violence to professional burnout and increased patient safety concerns. These findings underscore the severity of workplace violence as a cause of medical errors and unsafe work environments for nurses. To enhance safety and care quality, nurses should embrace their role in fostering a just culture in clinical settings. A just culture focuses on openness, repairing harm, and learning from adverse events instead of blaming those causing them (Van Baarle et al., 2022). Nurses fostering a just culture should partner with their colleagues and address issues through shared accountability. Doing so would create a healthy work environment free from incivility and where members respect each other as equally accountable partners.

Nurse’s Role Within Interdisciplinary Teams

Workplace violence requires an interdisciplinary approach due to its complex and multifaceted nature. Being an interdisciplinary team member implies promoting team leadership in solving health problems (Yamamoto, 2022). As a member of such a team, the nurse is responsible for communicating and interacting with colleagues to ensure workplace violence is understood, including its causes, impacts, and manifestations. The nurse should also collaborate with other team members to identify policies and other interventions for workplace violence to prevent its adverse impacts on patient care and care quality. Overall, the nurse’s active participation is valuable for a high-performance interdisciplinary team and the formulation of team-based, evidence-based solutions for workplace violence depending on its magnitude, occurrence areas, and effects on care providers.

Conclusion

Safe and healthy work environments are critical for high-quality patient care. The high prevalence of workplace violence in nursing is a significant threat to effective and efficient patient care, underlining the need for sustainable interventions. As discussed in this paper, a zero-tolerance policy could be implemented in a primary care setting to control workplace violence. However, its impact depends on its implementation, hence the need for a leadership approach that brings leaders and followers together to address the issue. As a result, transformational leadership should be encouraged to address workplace violence as nurses play an active role as interdisciplinary team members to establish the cause and formulate evidence-based solutions.

References

Bernardes, M. L. G., Karino, M. E., Martins, J. T., Okubo, C. V. C., Galdino, M. J. Q., & Moreira, A. A. O. (2021). Workplace violence among nursing professionals. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho: Publicacao Oficial da Associacao Nacional de Medicina do Trabalho-ANAMT, 18(3), 250–257. https://doi.org/10.47626/1679-4435-2020-531

Bureau, J. S., Gagné, M., Morin, A. J., & Mageau, G. A. (2021). Transformational leadership and incivility: a multilevel and longitudinal test. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(1-2), NP448-NP473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517734219

Kafle, S., Paudel, S., Thapaliya, A., & Acharya, R. (2022). Workplace violence against nurses: a narrative review. Journal of Clinical and Translational Research, 8(5), 421–424. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9536186/#:~:text=Health%2Dcare%20professionals%2C%20and%20in,the%20past%20year%20%5B5%5D.

Niinihuhta, M., Terkamo‐Moisio, A., Kvist, T., & Häggman‐Laitila, A. (2022). Nurse leaders’ work‐related well‐being—Relationships to a superior’s transformational leadership style and structural empowerment. Journal of Nursing Management, 30(7), 2791-2800. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13806

Qtait, M. (2023). Systematic review of head nurse leadership style and nurse performance. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 100564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2023.100564

Van Baarle, E., Hartman, L., Rooijakkers, S., Wallenburg, I., Weenink, J. W., Bal, R., & Widdershoven, G. (2022). Fostering a just culture in healthcare organizations: experiences in practice. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08418-z

Yamamoto, K. (2022). Association between interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership ability in intensive care unit nurses: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Nursing Research, 30(2), e202.DOI: 10.1097/jnr.0000000000000483

Yang, Q., Yang, L., Yang, C., Wu, X., Chen, Y., & Yao, P. (2023). Workplace violence against nursing interns and patient safety: The multiple mediation effect of professional identity and professional burnout. Nursing Open, 10(5), 3104-3112. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1560

Yosep, I., Mardhiyah, A., Hendrawati, H., & Hendrawati, S. (2023). Interventions for reducing negative impacts of workplace violence among health workers: a scoping review. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 16, 1409–1421. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S412754