Clinical Nurse Leadership and Performance Improvement on Surgical Unit
by Cheryl A. Landry RN,MSN,CNL(c)
Abstract
There are
many ways that nurses can prevent harm to their patients. One method is to provide the necessary care that
will promote only positive outcomes for their patients. Performance measures of the surgery unit that were
identified and could be measured were antibiotic usage and venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. To effectively
transform the nurses thought processes and gain buy-in to this performance improvement a cultural change was
identified. The nurses needed a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) to assist them in understanding the need for this
change and the benefits that would come about once this change was implemented. The CNL is a transformational
leader who uses more than one style of leadership to get their employees to perform at a level of excellence.
The styles of leadership used to adequately improve the performance on the surgery unit were affiliative and
democratic.
Within every healthcare organization there must be at least one leader who has wisdom, a sense of right and
wrong, and a vision for the potential of the organization. The vision of the leader must be embraced by the
employees; the vision must be pertinent to their cause. Not only must a leader have a vision, so should the
Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNL), they should also have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills that
are necessary for a leader to be successful (Manion, 2005). The success of a leader is measured by the
positive influential ability to get employees to reach the same goals of both the leader and the
organization. Another way of assessing a leader is by the leadership style used to direct his employees.
Leadership styles arise from leadership theories. Within this essay a description of the leadership style,
characteristics, and role effectiveness that each leader must have will be discussed. There will also be a
discussion of performance improvement and how transformational leadership can change a culture of
noncompliant nursing staff to promote performance excellence within an organization.
Wheatley (2000) stated “we have sought prediction and control, and have also charged leaders with providing
everything that was absent from the machine: vision, inspiration, intelligence, and courage” (p. 1). A
new era has brought innovation to the minds of leaders and employees. A leader establishes a vision,
autonomy, encourages esprit de corps, and empowers employees to think critically (De Pree, 2000).
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