NR 447 Week 7 Discussion Question, Our Future Leaders (Two Responses)

NR 447 Week 7 Discussion Question, Our Future Leaders (Two Responses) In Huston’s (2010) brief, but impressive article (required reading this week), the author outlines several leadership competencies that EVERY nurse leader will need for 2020. That year is not too far in the future, is it? Select one of the eight leadership competencies Huston described and relate it to your own leadership of nurses and nursing. This should promote a robust discussion as we come from different clinical and nonclinical perspectives. Discuss how the BSN-prepared nurse can assist a nurse leader in the budgeting process by contributing data readily available to the staff nurse. Huston, C. (2010). What skills will the nurse leaders of 2020 need? (2010). Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, 16(6), 14–15. Click HERE to link. 1. Global perspective 2. Better use of technology to connect people 3. Expert decision-making skills rooted in empirical science and intuition 4. Development of organizational cultures which emphasized quality patient care and worker and patient safety 5. Being politically smart 6. Highly developed collaboration and team building skills 7. Visionary and proactive in response to environment which will be increasingly characterized by chaos and change Instructor and class, Hutson’s (2010) article was a very eye-opening, convicting article I must say. It made me definitely feel like I have a few things to work on as a leader in my department. I work in a very busy community ED and I feel like I am consistently working on incorporating the collaboration and team building skills, for myself as well as my team. I definitely have seen a need for increased team building, just as the article stated, when it talked about the health of people in 2020 complicating teamwork instead of easing it (2010). It seems that with the combination of sicker patients these days and an upcoming generation that seems to not have quite the same work ethics that some of us older ones have, the teamwork seems to be more difficult to accomplish. This makes those of us who are leaders in the department have to get creative in order to get people to take ownership of their department and work together as a team. I have to admit, this is not easy at all and I have definitely not completely figured out how to bring everyone together; however, we have made a lot of progress. One thing that we did, not even really intending to bring about a sense of teamwork, but just about simplifying the schedule, was to organize the staff into two matrixes. For the most part, there is a core team on each matrix with a few prn staff and a few travelers on each matrix. This has definitely brought about a sense of teamwork that has become pretty strong and has bonded the two matrixes together. We have learned how each other works, who does well together and who doesn’t, who works well in what areas, who needs a little more help, etc. This definitely helps everyone to gather a sense of personal commitment, such as what our lesson talked about this week, which definitely brings about a sense of ownership and inspires people to do their best and think of their job as a profession instead of just a job (Chamberlain, 2016). As for the BSN-prepared nurse contributing data in order to assist the nurse leader in the budget process, there are several ways in order to achieve this, many of which are probably built right into the electronic charting programs. In our ED, we have certain things that are highlighted in blue. These are required charting areas that either trigger us to chart important pieces of information or areas that trigger important monetary reimbursements. Anytime we close out a chart, there is a large message that pops up alerting us that there are things that need to be charted. When these are charted, it generates a charge. As a BSN-prepared nurse, we are more aware of being fiscally responsible in many areas of our profession, simply because we have been taught more of the different aspects of that generate areas of income. This definitely does not mean that the ADN-prepared nurse is not fiscally aware and frugal with his or her job; it simply means that the BSN-prepared nurse has been trained a bit more in that area. As is stated in our lesson this week, every nurse plays a vital role in making sure that whatever establishment they work in is financially stable (Chamberlain, 2016). Resources Chamberlain College of Nursing. (2016). NR-447 Week 7: Nursing leadership skills: Decision making, planning, and finances. [Online lesson]. Downers Grove, IL: DeVry Education Group. Huston, C. (2010). What skills will the nurse leaders of 2020 need? (2010). Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, 16(6), 14–15. Retrieved from