Part B

The concept map is an outcome of the there key requirements of the NSW Department of Health (2010) pertaining to the nurse unit manger. These statements are- “Lead, direct and co-ordinate care in the ward”, “Inspire and support others to achieve their potential” and “Monitor and maintain a safe environment for patients, staff and visitors”. In response to the three statements the, assignment discusses how a nurse unit manger can utilise his/her knowledge of contemporary leadership, management theory, the concepts of clinical governance and patient safety to aid in the fulfilment of the above three role requirements.

The assignment deals with the concept map on the three key messages of the NSW Department of Health. The concept map reflects on the way the nursing unit manager can fulfil the role of leading, directing and coordinating the care in the ward. The discussion reflects on the nursing unit manager’s role in supporting others and inspiring the team members to achieve their potential.  Further, the map depicts the third role in monitoring and maintaing the safe environment for the patients, staff and visitors. It can be concluded that the mind map is the useful tool when researching and writing a paper. This tool was helpful in determining the existing knowledge on the topic and the things to explore further. The assignment contributed to the concept development. The existing  knowledge  is enriched by linking of these concepts into the map by ordering, categorising and expanding the concepts and keywords. Overall, working on the assignment has facilitated the gain of holistic view of topic that has been explored.

For the purpose of the assignment, contemporary theories of leadership and management   related to nursing practice have been analysed. The concept of clinical leadership in nursing and its association with the patient outcomes have been studied. Further, the impact of the theoretical concepts of leadership and management have been analysed critically. The need and impact of healthy policy on nursing management have been examined to explore the topic. The assignment had improved the research skills, and search strategy to retrieve relevant details on the given topic.  It has increased knowledge on the truncation of the terms and use of Boolean operators to narrow the research. The use of different search terms to restrict or broaden the research is useful in identifying the recent literature pertaining to the chosen area.

Based on the above discussion it is evident that the “Nursing/Midwifery Unit Manager” is the crucial role. It is vital for the leadership activities, coordination of the patent care and the ward management. To ensure the patient safety, high quality of care delivery is required, which is not possible without the supervision of the nursing unit manger (NUM). The assignment has enlightened the knowledge of core functions of the NUM. The NUMs have huge responsibility of managing the unit.  The framework for the patient care co-ordination is helpful in dealing with the functions of “lead, direct and co-ordinate” in the ward unit. The framework guides on the activities that a nursing unit manager can take to fulfil this role. Several strategies that have been mentioned, provides a deep insight into the, initiatives that can be taken by the nursing unit manager. These activities include the participation of the nurse manger in the random audits, attending to work rounds, and the meetings for addressing the concerns of the team members are evidence based and simple enough to execute (Sayers & Chang, 2015)

Significance of the Nursing/Midwifery Unit Manager Role

These frameworks also give good guidance on how to facilitate the collaborative teams in delivering the patient care, and collect regular feedback, enable culture of inquiry and the way to establish the evidence based practice in nursing care. The assignment creates awareness on the contemporaneous practice. It educated about taking the standardised approach to clinical handover, need of establishing structures and processes to create the culture of critical inquiry (NSW Health, 2010). The guidelines of “Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council” on ethics and professional conduct act as a framework in recruiting the staff that are appropriate for the job role.  This framework instructs the nursing unit manger to ensure compliance with the mandatory nurse/midwife training requirements. The mechanism of maintaing the standards of practice that are in alignment with the ANMC competency standards, the policies and procedures in the organisation are clearer than before (NSW Health, 2010).

Workings on this assignment have clarified the confusion the cause of certain procedure in place. For instance, the rate of hospital acquired infections have developed the standards related to the clinical hand wash monitoring. The checks on the nutrition of the patients and the need of regular audits are better explained by these standards. These standards help in eliminating the medical errors, increasing the length of hospital stay of the patients, preventing misdiagnosis and other catastrophe (Happell et al., 2013).

Overall, the assignment was fruitful in gaining the deep insights on how the nursing unit manager can utilise the concepts of the clinical governance patient safety, contemporary leadership and management theory to fulfil the role of leading and coordinating the care in the ward. The literature pertaining to this area paints a clear picture on how these concepts are interlinked and aid in the fulfilment of the role of inspiring and supporting others to achieve their best.  There is a bulk of literature imparting lesson on how a nursing unit manager can monitor and maintain a safe environment for the staff members, patient and visitors (Pennbrant et al., 2013).  

As a newly registered nurse, these concepts will help in developing the personal and professional skills. Henceforth, it will be regularly monitored if the personal nursing activities are aligning with the organisational policies and the standards of ANMC (Smolowitz et al., 2015). Engagement in career planning will be of greater time from now onwards. It is evident that continuous professional development is necessary to prepare for the role of the future nurse manger. In the present clinical practice, there will be a greater focus on optimising the leader within. Leading the people is an art and the long-term goals will be to observe and learn the human resource leadership skills, ways to manage relationships at workforce (Pennbrant et al., 2013). It is difficult to become leader without the ability to influence the people’s behaviour. Henceforth, as a newly registered nurse the goal will be to develop strategies and identify for the evidenced based option to mage the diversity in the workplace. Some of the strategies is to learn the cross cultural skills, respect the autonomy of other team members and the patients in decision-making. The present focus will be on engageing in the shared decision-making (Rystedt & Gustafsson, 2013).

Developing Personal and Professional Skills

To maintain the patient safety and high care quality, the present aim is to learn how the senior nurse manger punishes the nurses under them for errors or the consequences of the breach of the code of ethics. It will help to reflect on the personal status as the registered nurse and the need of improvement considering the nurse and regulations of the concerned organisation. Engaging in the reflective practice is effective and is an evidenced based option to overcome personal limitations and devise a plan to move forward to the effective nursing practice (Sayers & Chang, 2015). To develop the strategic management skills, the plan is to increase the critical thinking and reasoning skills. The performance improvement can be triggered by strengthening the clinical practice knowledge. For the next six months, the plan is to improve on the verbal and non-verbal communication skills to develop the trust that is needed in team and for building therapeutic relationship with patients. In six months of time, the goal is to improve on the effective communication skills, flexibility; critical thinking skills invest more time in learning and gaining knowledge and pay more attention to details (Cziraki et al., 2014).

Nurses are the frontline of care, and it is necessary to foster an open dialogue with the clients and their family. Effective communication skills are therefore, important to mage uncooperative patient and clinical team.  It is necessary to ensure flexibility in the field of nursing due to long shift hours, heavy load, paperwork, busy schedule and last minute changes. Flexibility will help in adapting to changes quickly. The rationale for working on the critical thinking skills is to excel in the nursing field. Critical thinking skills will help in making crucial decision, at the time of selecting the most appropriate intervention amidst the multiple options. The desire to learn is necessary in this profession, as curiosity will help in becoming an effective nurse. The field of medicine is changing rapidly making it a need to stay updated and prepared for continuous learning (Bisholt, 2012). The rationale for paying attention to minute details is the hectic schedule of the nursing profession. It is necessary to observe the minute details in the patient’s charts, medication, past medical history and clinical handover. It will ensure the patient safety. Even if small detail is missed in the diagnosis and intervention, it could lead to fatal mistake. Based on the literature, there is no standard blue print for the nurse to become successful overnight. However, strengthening the above-mentioned critical professional nursing skills will help in succeeding the present position. These are valuable skills, as per the literature review, which will help to prepare for future as nurse manger (Numminen et al., 2016).    

• Requirement of effective workforce planning and policy making- need of better collection and information infrastructure (Gaskell, 2010)
• Improvement in training and education- improved education system needed- to ensure seamless academic progression (Sullivan & Garland, 2013)
• Expand of opportunities to use nurses in expanded and leadership capacity- reduce cost and improve patient outcomes (Ellis & Bach, 2015)
• Improve opportunities to double the strength of nurses with doctorate (Smith et al., 2014)

 References for Both Part A and B

Bisholt, B. K. (2012). The professional socialization of recently graduated nurses—Experiences of an introduction program. Nurse education today, 32(3), 278-282.

Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Cziraki, K., McKey, C., Peachey, G., Baxter, P., & Flaherty, B. (2014). Factors that facilitate Registered Nurses in their first?line nurse manager role. Journal of nursing management, 22(8), 1005-1014.

Ellis, P., & Bach, S. (2015). Leadership, management and team working in nursing. Learning Matters.

Finkelman, A. (2015). Leadership and Management in Nursing: Core Competencies for Quality Care. Pearson.

Gaskell, C. (2010). Practical leadership and management in nursing. Nursing Standard, 25(11), 31-31.

Grohar-Murray, M. E., DiCroce, H. R., & Langan, J. C. (2016). Leadership and management in nursing. Pearson.

Happell, B., Dwyer, T., Reid?Searl, K., Burke, K. J., Caperchione, C. M., & Gaskin, C. J. (2013). Nurses and stress: recognizing causes and seeking solutions. Journal of nursing management, 21(4), 638-647.

Lin, P. Y., MacLennan, S., Hunt, N., & Cox, T. (2015). The influences of nursing transformational leadership style on the quality of nurses’ working lives in Taiwan: a cross-sectional quantitative study. BMC nursing, 14(1), 33.

NSW Health. (2010). A conceptual framework: the Nursing/Midwifery Unit Manager role. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/projects/Documents/updated-conceptual.pdf

Numminen, O., Ruoppa, E., Leino?Kilpi, H., Isoaho, H., Hupli, M., & Meretoja, R. (2016). Practice environment and its association with professional competence and work?related factors: perception of newly graduated nurses. Journal of nursing management, 24(1).

Pennbrant, S., Nilsson, M. S., Öhlén, J., & Rudman, A. (2013). Mastering the professional role as a newly graduated registered nurse. Nurse education today, 33(7), 739-745.

Rystedt, H., & Gustafsson, J. (2013). Authenticity and learning in a workplace based educational programme. Inside the New University: Prerequisites for a Contemporary Knowledge Production, 67-94.

Sayers, J., & Chang, E. (2015). Preparing for role transition. Transitions in Nursing-E-Book: Preparing for Professional Practice, 73.

Smith, A., Latter, S., & Blenkinsopp, A. (2014). Safety and quality of nurse independent prescribing: a national study of experiences of education, continuing professional development clinical governance. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(11), 2506-2517.

Smolowitz, J., Speakman, E., Wojnar, D., Whelan, E. M., Ulrich, S., Hayes, C., & Wood, L. (2015). Role of the registered nurse in primary health care: Meeting health care needs in the 21st century. Nursing Outlook, 63(2), 130-136.

Sullivan, E. J., & Garland, G. (2013). Practical Leadership and Management in Nursing.

Titzer, J. L., Shirey, M. R., & Hauck, S. (2014). A nurse manager succession planning model with associated empirical outcomes. Journal of Nursing Administration, 44(1), 37-46.

Weiss, S. A., & Tappen, R. M. (2014). Essentials of nursing leadership and management. FA Davis.