Research Topics: Nursing Empowerment

Nursing Literature Review on Nursing Empowerment

Introduction   Health care contributes over 10 percent of gross domestic product of most developed nations. Nursing is one of the top occupations in health care in terms of job growth. Anywhere in the world, we see individuals taking up studies in nursing. Although majority of them we cannot gauge if they really have their heart in it, the fact still remains that many individuals take up nursing and would soon be taking care of ill patients in health care settings.   Health care is a major concern these days, considering that the population is growing. People are more aware of their health today than they are years ago. Advancements in technology play an important part in people’s awareness – people can now be easily diagnosed of their illnesses and technology can also help prevent further occurrence of some diseases. Because of these, people live longer than before. Everybody in the world has experienced health care in many ways, like when we go to the doctor for checkup or when we go to a health organization to be immunized. But most of the time, we see the nurses in the front line of providing us with the health care services that we need.   Effective nursing and health care concern has been and still is a growing concern for everybody. Many problems threaten the very foundation of the nursing profession. Among these are nursing shortages, wrong education of the nurses, and nurses whose hearts aren’t really in the profession but in the high pay which the profession brings in.   Different people have different perspectives about nurses and nursing care. A nurse could be different from one person to another. We all have different understanding of nursing. This paper will examine two photographs which depict areas in the nursing profession and will attempt to analyze the images, identify the issues, and think about the issues.   Context   Two photographs are provided for this paper. First, there is a need to describe these images in detail. Second, based on the photographs, nursing issues will be presented. And third, these issues will be discussed.   The first photograph is a black and white image of several nurses together with a man. The man looks like someone of authority, someone who is accustomed to giving out orders. On the other hand, he could be a priest. But then, we can only guess. The man is wearing an all-black suit in the photograph, but then again we cannot really be sure since this is not a colored photograph. At the back of the nurses is a large tent.   The nurse at the farthest left beside the man seems to be looking or reading at something which looks like a piece of paper in the man’s hand. Most of the other nurses took no notice of this but look straight into the camera. Some faces are just passive while some are also smiling.   This photograph could have been taken sometime before the 1950s and maybe during the war. These are like nurses assigned to take care of soldiers in battle field. Or they could simply be nurses on some health care mission to less privileged areas. They look like a bunch of children getting ready for a class pictorial.   The second photograph is a colored one and looks more recent that the first one. In this photograph, there are only three persons. On the front is a white man who, judging by his clothes, is a medical doctor. Behind him, on each side are two women. One woman is dark skinned while the other woman‘s ethnicity cannot be judged since she further back and the picture starts to blur. This picture seems to be taken within the hospital halls.   This photograph looks like more of a promotional picture for a television show featuring doctors and nurses within the hospital setting. You could see that they are posing like models with arms folded and feet apart and staring straight into the camera with serious determined faces, or at least I could tell by the doctor’s face.   Identification and Discussion of Issues   Going back to the first photograph with the nurses posing for the camera with a man clothed in black, let us identify the issues that can be gauged from the picture.   From the photograph, three issues can be presented: (1) nurses usually work with other nurses in the provision of health care services, (2) in the provision of these services, other individuals could be involved – even if these individuals are not health care professionals, and (3) if we compare this picture to pictures of group nurses or team nurses at present, we can conclude that this team in the picture comprises more nurses than most nursing teams at present. This only goes to show that perhaps there is a growing shortage of nurses at present.   Nurses can work alone. But nurses can also work in groups. Collaboration, they say, is the key to success. Nurses working together can provide a better quality of service, thus improving patient’s health also. In most cases, nurses work in groups or in teams where there is a leader assigned to take in charge and lead the group.               Other individuals are involved in the provision of health care services by the nurses. By this, we do not mean other health care professionals but ordinary citizens or even the patients themselves. People had a right and a duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning of their health care. This highlight the importance of nurses looking at their practice critically and maintaining up-to-date research-based knowledge, illustrating that healthcare professionals need to be empowered to empower others effectively.   We question – why is there a growing shortage of nurses when in fact we see more and more people taking up nursing profession in schools. The growing shortage of nurses is due to the fact that the world is growing. More nurses there may be, but still population is growing day by day.               A nursing shortage in almost all countries has been reported. There are a number of strategies made in dealing with the crisis. With the total population of the world growing, along with the different mutated new diseases that attack the bodies of man, the population growth was expected along with the nursing shortage.   In the second photograph, an issue to raise is that nurses work with other health care professionals in the provision of health care services. As depicted in the photograph, nurses work with doctors. Partnership between doctors and nurses is seen to be an essential prerequisite to the success of providing the best quality of care to the patient, and the key to successful partnership within health visiting practice is mutual respect and open communication between parties. There should be no feelings of jealousy, instead, health care professionals should collaborate and cooperate with each other.   Comparison and Differentiation   Comparing the two photographs only in terms of how it looks can generate many differences, not similarities. To name a few, these differences includes the number of nurses in the picture, the clothes of the nurses, and the color (or lack of it) of the photograph.   Nurses nowadays not only wear white during their duties. They wear other colors too in their duty, like the color blue. The style of their uniform also varies. In the old photograph, the nurses are wearing skirts – long skirts which made them look like they are wearing gowns; while in the newer photograph the two nurses are wearing pants.   In both photographs, we can see that nurses are not alone in their quest of providing quality health care services. In the first photograph, we see that the nurses are with a man who seems to be helping them in some sort of way. In the second photograph, the nurses are with the doctors who are undeniably able to help nurses and can also play a big impact on the role of the nurses.   In both photographs, we can safely say that nurses are being provided with support from different sides. Nurses get support and empowerment from fellow health care professionals like the doctors and also from other individuals, even their clients. Empowerment is defined as “moving decision making down to the lowest level where competent decisions can be made” (Szaloczy, 1998).   Representation and empowerment of clients raises important issues. If nurses are to truly follow their code of professional conduct, they must view nursing not as a source of power, but as a means of empowerment through the sharing of knowledge (Du Plat-Jones, 1999).   Discussion   By working in partnership with doctors and even clients, nurses can best represent their needs and redistribute power for the good of all concerned. A critical appreciation of the sources of influence in health care is important. Yet, more importantly, unless nurses can learn to represent themselves, their interests and those of their clients more effectively, they will continue to be a large body of professionals with a relatively small voice within the wider political, social and health care arenas (Du Plat-Jones, 1999).               The nurse has a dual role to play in providing a service for clients and helping clients to access appropriate services. The client’s right to health care confers on nurses an obligation to assist clients to meet their individual health needs. Representing the client can take two forms – advocacy and empowerment.   The nurse-client-relationship has for some decades been considered the cornerstone of nursing (Hummellvoll, 1996). In nursing research and practice the nurse-client relationship is a central theme. The nursing care partnership model, challenges the traditional, professional helping- role characterized by objectivity and neutrality, both of which have dominated psychiatry. They reason that changing social conditions and new health problems require an alternative model of nursing practice.   Nursing care plans are a guide to nursing practice. These are either specific to nursing or integrated in multidisciplinary treatment plans. One purpose of nursing care plans is to ensure inter-professional communication. Nurses working together can learn from one another’s nursing care plans they make for their patients.   There is also a need for nursing organizations to empower their staff to deliver client-focused care. Empowerment should come not only from doctors or clients but also from the other nurses. These could who work together in the same health care setting or these could be nurses of an entirely different hospital setting.    In the hospital setting, this would most commonly be at the point of direct client care or staff nurse level; however, this kind of empowerment requires an environment of autonomy where mutual trust and respect are encouraged. The empowerment process requires that staff be prepared to accept and effectively use expanded decision-making responsibilities (Szaloczy, 1998).   To start changing the work environment into a healthy one, there should first be mutual trust and encouragement in all the parties involved. Each and every opinion should be respected and given consideration in the decision-making process. There should also be an all-out support for this desire for change.   Incorporated within the concept of empowerment is the individual’s willingness to see the vision and make the personal changes necessary to connect with that vision. It is how the concept of shared leadership works (George, et al, 2002).   Developing an empowering culture in which positive relationships are nurtured, leadership capabilities are developed, and professional practice is supported can improve the work environment and satisfaction of staff nurses (Walker, 2001). Simply put, collaborative work relationships should be actively enhanced and promoted in order to create a positive work environment.   The professional accountabilities of the empowered nurse includes having a sense of value about their work and willingness to provide the full scope of practice as well as ability to work as equal members of a comprehensive interdisciplinary team. In order to move into a fully empowered position, professional nurses need mentoring, education, awareness of political activism opportunities, and networking skills (Szaloczy, 1998).             On the other hand, individuals who help the nurses can also restrict practice and provide a form of control over nurses. It is plausible to infer from this that power is being exerted over nurses and by nurses in many situations. Thus representation has now become a key issue for the status and future of the nursing profession.   Conclusion   The role of nurses in the world varies, as we can see in the two photographs. They could be in the open field with other individuals who aren’t health care professionals or they could be in the hospital with the doctors and other health care professionals. But even though their roles vary, they serve only one purpose: to promote and practice health care thru the knowledge they earned from training and practice.   It is the job of the nurses to take care of those who require health care. It is their job to give quality health care so that patients will get cured and will have confidence in their safety and the excellent practice of medical practitioners. Both patients and doctors could benefit from the nurses.   A good nurse shall also serve as a model to her fellow nurses and nurses to be, and teaches them good ethics and practice. A nurse must also be adept to new technologies, especially those that pertain to medicine. Over the years, we can see as is in the photographs that nurses have changed yet there is one thing that didn’t change. And that is the continuing provision of the best quality of care to those who need it. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Nursing Literature Review on Nursing Empowerment

Introduction Health care contributes over 10 percent of gross domestic product of most developed nations. Nursing is one of the ...

Clinical Leadership/Management Nursing Issue

Clinical Leadership/Management Nursing Issue The work environment is one of the domains which needed strategies in order for the nursing profession to move on to greater heights. The work environment is viewed as an area so basic to the future of the nursing profession. Improving the work environment of nurses can optimize the quality of patient care and there will also be retention of the professional nursing staff.             The deterioration of healthcare work environments is a major problem of concern to the nurse leader or manager. A healthy work environment is necessary to bring about quality healthcare service to the clients. An unhealthy work environment would create a devastating impact not only to the nurses and the clients but most importantly on the effectiveness of the entire healthcare system. This issue or problem is one which could be attributed to delegation.             The possible root causes for this apparent deterioration of healthcare work environments are outlined in the succeeding sentences. (1) The nurses are placed in leadership positions even if they are not adequately prepared and without adequate support for their roles. (2) Each individual nurse is assigned to handle many clients than they can handle. (3) Decision-making within the work environment is done only by one department, without consultation of all the other parties that are involved.             The resulting environment created by these situations brings about many negative results in the working environment. When inadequate leaders are placed in positions, there will be dissatisfaction and high turnover for nurse leaders and the staff as well. When each nurse is assigned to handle many clients, this would result in confusion and the clients are placed at risk for errors and injury. The nurses are also frustrated, angry and stressed out. Decisions that are made without consulting all the parties involved places everyone involved – clients, nurses, managers and other staff – at risk. The overall quality of care offered by the healthcare service would be diminished.   Action Taken The nursing staff and managers are the ones responsible for the problem. The lack of leadership skills is one major factor. In order to solve this problem, focus should be given to the nursing leaders and managers. Leadership training programs should be offered and nursing managers and leaders should be required to attend. These managers and leaders in turn should perform their responsibilities of teaching and guiding the rest of the staff in promoting a healthy work environment. With the particular problem concerning the deterioration of the work environment, a change is needed. This change would include on a large scale the leadership and management styles within the work environment. To start the action step in changing the work environment into a healthy one, there should first be mutual trust and encouragement in all the parties involved. Each and every opinion should be respected and given consideration in the decision-making process. There should also be an all-out support for this desire for change.             Effective leadership style is an integral part of creating an environment that nurtures the development of an empowered nursing staff.  (1997) defines leadership as “a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” The major points of this definition are that leadership is a group activity, is based on social influence, and revolves around a common task. Although this specification seems relatively simple, the reality of leadership is very complex. Intrapersonal factors (i.e., thoughts and emotions) interact with interpersonal processes (i.e., attraction, communication, influence) to have effects on a dynamic external environment (1997). In the current work environment, the people should be ready for a new way to share the power and the responsibility that goes with it. They should be ready for partnering relationships, collaborative work relationships and shared leadership. For this particular problem, shared leadership has to be employed. Shared leadership provides an organizational framework that offers the nursing staff maximal participation in decisions about work and the work environment. Every staff has to be given a chance what he or she thinks about a current situation and what they think can help such issues.   Analysis As previously mentioned, in order to achieve all these, the management style of shared leadership should be employed in the hospital setting for the nurses. Shared leadership is a nursing management model that supports staff nurses in extending their influence about decisions that affect their practice, work environment, professional development, and self-fulfillment (2001). As previously mentioned, leadership is a group activity. In shared leadership, every voice is heard and given consideration. Shared leadership is a collaborative team process in which team members share key leadership roles (2004). Shared leadership is empowering employees to act autonomously, be decisive at the point-of-service, and create a shared vision aligned with organizational goals. Shared leadership development and autonomously practicing nurses appear to be the equation for success in delivering quality patient outcomes in today’s organized health care delivery systems. Employees must develop or refine new behaviors and skills in empowerment, facilitation, negotiation, systems thinking, and accountability on behalf of patients (2002). Shared leadership is a way to strengthen continuous learning and enhance relationships between leaders/managers, staff and clients, which are the foundation upon which the nurses can develop a new type of relationship with management and with each other. This in turn could significantly improve the work environment. There is an emphasis on ‘relationships’ since these relationships can be tenuous at times as both managers and staff members adopt attitudes of contention and competition with each other. The demands of the health care environment have brought about changes that have not always contributed to positive work environments, and nurses have been concerned about the impact this has had on client care. Managers have had to develop ways to achieve expected outcomes and meet targets required by their organizations. To address all these issues, nurses need to focus on developing relationships that facilitate working with each other from strengths and not just criticizing weaknesses (2001).   Evaluation In the implementation of the new policies or rules, the staff was allowed to contribute to the decisions made. Goals have also been set. The nurses were mentored by the manager and clinical nurse specialist to apply the shared leadership skills during their daily work to achieve the goals that are set. This is to support the nurses’ use of shared leadership behaviors in the clinical setting. In every nurse is the individual’s willingness to see the vision and make the personal changes necessary to connect with that vision. It is how the concept of shared leadership works (2002). Evaluation of the plan showed that all management staff played an important role in leading the emergence of legitimacy of this “new professional authority.” The encouragement of individual nursing staff to establish individual goals that achieve more self-direction, more knowledge and self-confidence, and more networking ability by the process of shared leadership led to a more committed employee. A more committed employee in turn contributed to a positive and healthy work environment, solving the problem of deteriorating work environments for nurses.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Clinical Leadership/Management Nursing Issue

Clinical Leadership/Management Nursing Issue The work environment is one of the domains which needed strategies in order for the nursin...

Nurses Agenda for the Future: Work Environment

Nursing Leadership and Management     Nurses Agenda for the Future: Work Environment   Introduction             The American nursing community has joined hands around a sharedvision for the future of the nursing profession and has developed acomprehensive strategic plan – Nursing’s Agenda for the Future – to address the increasing nursing shortageand the factors contributing to it. This strategic plan corresponds to the shared vision of more than 60 organizations of nurses in the United States thathave put forward strategies to address the factors driving the increasing shortage of nurses. Nursing’s Agenda for the Future concentrates on various strategies aimed at moving the profession towards greater heightsand at the same time making certain that consumers have access to high quality healthcare. The nurses hope to collaboratewith other stakeholders in strengthening the profession through the development of the Nursing’s Agenda for the Future, and in the processmake certain that the consumers will still have access to high qualityhealth care and a safe health care environment (2006).   Domain             Nursing’s Agenda for the Future included the work environment as one of the domains which needed strategies in order for the nursing profession to move on to greater heights. In the strategic plan presented by the Nursing’s Agenda for the future, the work environment is viewed as an area so basic to nursing’s future. Improving the work environment of nurses can optimize the quality of patient care and there will also be retention of the professional nursing staff (  2006).             The deterioration of healthcare work environments is a major problem of concern to the nurse leader or manager. A healthy work environment is necessary to bring about quality healthcare service to the clients. An unhealthy work environment would create a devastating impact not only to the nurses and the clients but most importantly on the effectiveness of the entire healthcare system.             The possible root causes for this apparent deterioration of healthcare work environments are outlined in the succeeding sentences. (1) The nurses are placed in leadership positions even if they are not adequately prepared and without adequate support for their roles. (2) Each individual nurse is assigned to handle many clients than they can handle. (3) Decision-making within the work environment is done only by one department, without consultation of all the other parties that are involved.             The resulting environment created by these situations brings about many negative results in the working environment. When inadequate leaders are placed in positions, there will be dissatisfaction and high turnover for nurse leaders and the staff as well. When each nurse is assigned to handle many clients, this would result in confusion and the clients are placed at risk for errors and injury. The nurses are also frustrated, angry and stressed out. Decisions that are made without consulting all the parties involved places everyone involved – clients, nurses, managers and other staff – at risk. The overall quality of care offered by the healthcare service would be diminished. The nursing staff and managers are the ones responsible for the problem. The lack of leadership skills is one major factor. In order to solve this problem, focus should be given to the nursing leaders and managers. Leadership training programs should be offered and nursing managers and leaders should be required to attend. These managers and leaders in turn should perform their responsibilities of teaching and guiding the rest of the staff in promoting a healthy work environment.   Theoretical Foundations Change appears to be a driving force in society today and the American healthcare system is no exception. In addition to the need for change in today’s society, the importance of creativity in bringing about needed change must also be considered. An organization will quickly lose strategic advantages that it has worked hard to gain unless it invests in innovation and creativity, and consequently, change (1999). With the particular problem concerning the deterioration of the work environment, a change is needed. This change would include on a large scale the leadership and management styles within the work environment. Aside from that, there should also be empowerment for all the parties involved in the work environment. Nursing organizations must empower their staff to deliver client-focused care. Empowerment is defined as “moving decision making down to the lowest level where competent decisions can be made” (1998).  In the hospital setting, this would most commonly be at the point of direct client care or staff nurse level; however, this kind of empowerment requires an environment of autonomy where mutual trust and respect are encouraged. The empowerment process requires that staff be prepared to accept and effectively use expanded decision-making responsibilities (1998). To start changing the work environment into a healthy one, there should first be mutual trust and encouragement in all the parties involved. Each and every opinion should be respected and given consideration in the decision-making process. There should also be an all-out support for this desire for change.             Effective leadership style is an integral part of creating an environment that nurtures the development of an empowered nursing staff.  (1997) defines leadership as “a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”        The major points of this definition are that leadership is a group activity, is based on social influence, and revolves around a common task. Although this specification seems relatively simple, the reality of leadership is very complex. Intrapersonal factors (i.e., thoughts and emotions) interact with interpersonal processes (i.e., attraction, communication, influence) to have effects on a dynamic external environment (1997). The professional accountabilities of the empowered nurse includes having a sense of value about their work and willingness to provide the full scope of practice as well as ability to work as equal members of a comprehensive interdisciplinary team. In order to move into a fully empowered position, professional nurses need mentoring, education, awareness of political activism opportunities, and networking skills ( 1998). In order to achieve all these, shared leadership should be employed. Shared leadership is a nursing management model that supports staff nurses in extending their influence about decisions that affect their practice, work environment, professional development, and self-fulfillment (2001). As previously mentioned, leadership is a group activity. In shared leadership, every voice is heard and given consideration. Shared leadership is a collaborative team process in which team members share key leadership roles ( 2004). Shared leadership is empowering employees to act autonomously, be decisive at the point-of-service, and create a shared vision aligned with organizational goals. Shared leadership development and autonomously practicing nurses appear to be the equation for success in delivering quality patient outcomes in today’s organized health care delivery systems. Employees must develop or refine new behaviors and skills in empowerment, facilitation, negotiation, systems thinking, and accountability on behalf of patients (2002). Shared leadership is a way to strengthen continuous learning and enhance relationships between leaders/managers, staff and clients, which are the foundation upon which the nurses can develop a new type of relationship with management and with each other. This in turn could significantly improve the work environment. There is an emphasis on ‘relationships’ since these relationships can be tenuous at times as both managers and staff members adopt attitudes of contention and competition with each other. Aside from shared leadership, the transformational leadership theory can be employed. The transformational nurse leader typically inspires followers to do more than originally expected. Transformational leadership theories predict followers’ emotional attachment to the leader and emotional and motivational arousal of followers as a consequence of the leader’s behavior. Transformational leaders broaden and elevate the interests of followers, generate awareness and acceptance among the followers of the purposes and mission of the group and motivate followers to go beyond their self-interests for the good of the group (1997). Many staff nurses are said to have the natural characteristics of transformational leaders, but these characteristics must first be nurtured and allowed to blossom. The nurse managers/leaders have a responsibility to encourage and support this growth, as this is very important in the transformation of the work environment (1998). A practice/work environment in which transformational leaders strive to create new visions for enhancing patient care and nursing practice is a better environment to work. Various authors have discussed the use of transformational leadership. Many researches also suggest that all nurses could use this leadership style to enhance their practice environment ( 1998). The workplace can be transformed by creating a work environment that ensures quality patient care. This transformation can be achieved by nurses becoming transformational leaders in the workplace. The demands of the health care environment have brought about changes that have not always contributed to positive work environments, and nurses have been concerned about the impact this has had on client care. Managers have had to develop ways to achieve expected outcomes and meet targets required by their organizations. To address all these issues, nurses need to focus on developing relationships that facilitate working with each other from strengths and not just criticizing weaknesses ( 2001). Developing an empowering culture in which positive relationships are nurtured, leadership capabilities are developed, and professional practice is supported can improve the work environment and satisfaction of staff nurses (2001). Simply put, collaborative work relationships should be actively enhanced and promoted in order to create a positive work environment.   Planning             In the current work environment, the people should be ready for a new way to share the power and the responsibility that goes with it. They should be ready for partnering relationships, collaborative work relationships and shared leadership. For this particular problem, shared leadership has to be employed. Shared leadership provides an organizational framework that offers the nursing staff maximal participation in decisions about work and the work environment. Every staff has to be given a chance what he or she thinks about a current situation and what they think can help such issues. When implementing new policies or rules, or even with simple matters, the staff should be allowed to contribute to the decisions to be made. Goals have to be set also. To support the nurses’ use of shared leadership behaviors in the clinical setting, the nurses will be mentored by the manager and clinical nurse specialist to apply the shared leadership skills during their daily work to achieve the goals that are set. The creating and sharing of this setting and achieving of goals is a key implementation challenge, and also calls for transformational leadership. Through effective communication and persuasion, and confidence building, the transformational leader encourages the adoption of new values and beliefs, endorses the goal of organizational effectiveness, and sustains the effort to realize the improvement of work environment. The transformational leader could be a staff nurse. But first he or she has to be educated on the responsibilities that the role entails. Aside from that, he or she must also be open to change. To be included with the overall plan for achieving a positive and healthy work environment is the training of the nurses for empowerment. Training nurses for empowerment must include leadership techniques to prepare the nurse for the integrative and collaborative role. The environment in which the professional nurse works is influential in developing empowered behavior ( 1998) since professional nurses do not function in a vacuum. They need an environment that encourages empowerment. The professional nurse cannot reach empowerment if there are unsatisfied needs within the working environment. Incorporated within the concept of empowerment is the individual’s willingness to see the vision and make the personal changes necessary to connect with that vision. It is how the concept of shared leadership works (2002). All management staff plays an important role in leading the emergence of legitimacy of this “new professional authority.” The encouragement of individual nursing staff to establish individual goals that achieve more self-direction, more knowledge and self-confidence, and more networking ability by the process of shared leadership leads to a more committed employee. A more committed employee in turn contributes to a positive and healthy work environment.             In this proposed approach, negative consequences may also present. Shared leadership may present a conflict and ambiguity of roles. Some of the staff might revel in the shared power to the point that they will forget what the essence of shared leadership is all about. Some staff might also take advantage of such opportunity and this creates competition and jealousy within the staff. All of these wouldn’t be in line with the goal of creating a positive and healthy environment.             To minimize such problems, there should be an ongoing monitoring of the staff. Although they are given the rights to take part in decision-making, they should also not forget where they really belong. The staff should also be constantly reminded by the managers that this effort needs teamwork and this is done for the improvement of the work environment. Perhaps motivation would also work in minimizing this problem.   Evaluation             Outcomes have to be measured in order to know if the clients are satisfied with the services and products. In the case of the problem regarding work environment, outcomes have to be measured because the work environment plays a significant part in the job performance and satisfaction of the nurses. If the work environment continues to be negative or diminished, this could significantly affect the quality of care that nurses give their clients. The main gauge for identifying if the plan or solution proposed is successful is when there is a significant positive change in the relationships of clients, staff and managers/leaders. This fosters a positive and healthy work environment. The managers or leaders can identify if the plan or solution is working if they can see the results with their eyes – like increased work performance of the nursing staff.             Aside from that, the change can also be evaluated by various tools for measuring outcomes which are available – like questionnaires and surveys that the staff, managers and even the clients can answer. In evaluating the outcomes, it is important to note that in addition to a strong and committed leadership (shared and transformational leadership), the success of improving the work environment depends on a receptive environment, strategy, structure, and culture.   Conclusion             In every profession, not only for the nurses, the work environment is deemed crucial for the provision of quality services. In the case of the nurses, the focus on work environment is very important since this could affect the performance of the nurses and this in turn can jeopardize the lives of their clients.             The Nursing’s Agenda for the Future supports the improvement of work environment as one of the domains that is necessary for further progression of the nursing profession as well as the quality of care that they offer to their patients.             In some healthcare setting, there is a deterioration of the work environment which contributes to the deterioration of patient care also. There is a need to improve this and in this paper I have proposed a shared leadership strategy to overcome this problem. Shared leadership is a collaborative team process in which the team members all share key leadership roles. A positive and healthy work environment needs the support of everyone working within the environment.             Implementing this program of improvement for the work environment should be constantly monitored so as to determine if progress is made, and if progress is made, there should still be monitoring so that this progress is maintained. Progress can be gauged if there is a significant improvement not only in the relationships of the nurses and other staff but also of the quality of patient care.             The transformation of the work environment to make it an environment where stress levels are less high and morale levels of the nurses improve would require a transformational leader who is willing to get involved. A staff nurse could be such a leader, but he or she would first need conscious awareness of how the role is approached, a positive attitude and a mind open to change. A staff nurse can create a vision for better patient care, perhaps not on a big scale, but in the nursing care team. After all, this is a collaborative process. In conclusion, the Nursing’s Agenda for the Future presents strategies designed for the work environment in the goal of minimizing the increasing incidence of nursing shortage. The deterioration of the work environment vastly contributes to the nurse’s job performance and satisfaction, which can ultimately lead to the problem of nursing shortage. Thus, there are various strategies that can help in improving the work environment and ultimately patient care.           Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Nurses Agenda for the Future: Work Environment

Nursing Leadership and Management Nurses Agenda for the Future: Work Environment Introduction The Amer...

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