Free «Nursing Leadership Interview» Essay Sample

Introduction

Leadership is an essential ingredient that affects the success of organization and healthcare providers are not the exception. In nursing, leadership offers immense opportunities for a nurse to create conducive environments that promote the success of staff and boost productivity. Against this background, I recently conducted a leadership interview with a clinical manager for gathering information and insight from her perspective. This interview was an opportunity for me to meet the clinical manager and talk with her about her work and experiences. During this interview, I managed to acquire immense tips and understanding of what it takes to be a leader in a healthcare environment.

The leader interviewed is Jessica Sowers, is a clinical manager on 4 west of Memorial West Hospital system. She has an AS in nursing. (I will fill in the rest of this paragraph)

A Learning Conversation

During the interview, I posed several questions to Jessica Sowers who was delighted to provide me with vital responses to the questions. The questions posed and the responses are as follows.

a) What is the mission and vision statement of your organization?

The Mission statement of the organization is “The Memorial Healthcare System provides safe, quality, cost-effective, patient, and family-centered care regardless of one's ability to pay, with the goal of improving the health of the community it serves”

The vision statement is “Through more integrated relationships with physicians, Memorial Healthcare System will deliver patient- and family-centric care in a highly efficient manner with exceptional quality and safety outcomes for the benefit of the residents of the South Broward Hospital District.”

a) What expectations do you have in your organization for a BSN prepared nurse in your specialty in terms of meeting the organization’s mission?

We expect BSN prepared nurse to have mastered best practices that reduce errors and enhance the quality of care by focusing on evidence-based care. In addition, we also anticipate that BSN prepared nurse to demonstrate critical thinking processes that will allow them optimize resources and engage in a cost effective processes. Most important, we also expect BSN prepared nurses to value positive relationship and collaborations that will allow them to deliver patient and family-centered care.

b) What does it take a nurse to succeed in your organization?

Success in our organization stems from several factors. First, a nurse must be able communicate effectively in the healthcare environment. Second, a nurse must also demonstrate a wide cultural understanding to meet the needs of various patients or colleagues. Lastly, a nurse must be passionate about his or her work and must have the willingness to learn.

c) What actions would you recommend BSN nurses to develop in their profession?

I would recommend that BSN nurses equip themselves with leadership skills that will allow them to develop goals and serve as agents of change. It is also beneficial for BSN nurses to cultivate skills in planning and accountability in their work. Equally important, BSN nurses should also develop their problem solving and innovation skills.  

d) How do you expect a BSN prepared student to handle pressure/stress?

In the workplace, I expect a BSN prepared students to rely on social support to reduce the impact of stress coming from their work. In addition, I also expect a nurse to exploit workplace empowerment programs to learn how to reduce the challenges of stress at work. A BSN prepared nurse should also be able to identify stressors and mitigate their impact by adopting coping mechanism such as taking some time to relax.

e) How do you evaluate success?

This is an excellent question. When evaluating success, my focus is always on the efficiency of a process and outcomes as well. Efficient processes that bring positive outcomes are attributes that I use to define whether a process has been successful or not.

f) What are the strengths you expect from a BSN prepared nurse?

A BSN prepared nurse has the ability to engage in disease prevention in an effective way. In addition, a BSN prepared nurse can also take part in community nursing and reach out many people. The ability of a BSN prepared nurse to provide leadership roles is another strength that makes BSN nurses better trained than other nurses with lower credentiasl.

g) What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

When getting into a leadership position for the first time, I would encourage individuals to take challenges, and criticism, as well. In addition, these individuals should also learn about the people they are working with so to help them better. Most importantly, these individuals should also build rapport with the followers and uphold both justice and ethics in their work.

h) What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

For someone to grow and develop as a leader, it is necessary to accept new ideas and evaluate conflicting ideas. It is also valuable to attend leadership empowerment programs and take part in other leadership trainings. Equally important, leaders must evaluate their effectiveness and develop positive strategies to reduce their shortcomings.

Summary

The interview conversation elucidated some essential qualities and expectation of nurses working for healthcare organizations. The conversations revealed that healthcare organizations have mission and vision statements, which guide the work of nurses. In these organizations, nurses have a role of meeting these goals. In addition, the conversation made it clear that BSN prepared nurses must demonstrate key competencies in several areas such as leadership, which is vital in the nursing environment (Kean & Haycock-Stuart, 2011). Besides this, organizations also use various metrics such as effectiveness and outcomes to measure success. The interview also highlighted the role of nurses in coping with stress and developing their leadership roles in the healthcare industry. Taking part in leadership programs and training provides nurses with immense opportunities to increase their leadership skills.

Reflection and Follow-Up

The interview process provided me a wonderful opportunity to meet and get to hear from Sower, one of the outstanding clinical managers that I have met. The interview gave me rare and inspiring glimpse of the role of the clinical manager, where I learnt about essential qualities and several expectation of BSN prepared nurses. The apex of this interview made me reflect on some of the issues discussed, and how I can improve myself as a nurse.

After careful consideration of the interview process, I have come to learn the values of aligning my goal with that of the organization. This is an easy process now that I know that the mission and vision statements indicate the core values that define what an organization seeks to achieve. Moreover, I am also looking forward to enhance my communication skills, not to mention developing more of people skills that I have. This will facilitate my efforts of providing patient-centered care. That organization needs BSN nurses prepared to become leaders and cope with stress intrigued me, I am looking forward to develop my leadership skills and enhance my skills on stress management. More specifically, I would like to develop a rich network of colleagues that will reinforce my ability to face challenging issues in my workplace.

From the interview, it is apparent that leadership and growth have taken center stage. Because of this, my focus will be to seek mentorship in one of the suitable organizations like Memorial West Hospital system, where I can work under the mentorship of a manager like Sowers. Such collaboration often yields better result for BSN nurse as they can gain industry experience in nursing (Omansky, 2010). Furthermore, I look forward to take part in leadership training program to equip myself with novel leadership knowledge and skills. For the purpose of the mentorship, I will need to contact Sowers and request her to become my mentor. This will probably enable me to work in one of the most engaging mentorship program thus far.