Good Essay About Effective Approaches In Leadership And Management

Introduction

The problems of nursing shortage nurse turn-over are a major issue, which have contributed to lowering the quality of healthcare in America and the world at large. According to the reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over one million nurses will retire by 2012 higher than the number of nurses expected to be employed. For instance, Iowa Board of Nursing established that 48500 registered nurses have active licenses and almost 46% of that figure is old enough, close to retiring (Dawson et al., 2013). It is therefore the expectation of nurse managers to use various approaches in providing solutions to the problems. Based on this brief overview, the paper seeks to compare and contrast various approaches managers are expected to use in addressing the problem of nurse shortage and turnover. The analysis will be analyzed and be supported using relevant nursing theories, models and leadership styles.

Nursing shortage and nurse turnover

The health challenge of nurse shortage and turnover is majorly caused by the increasing number of retiring nurses who leaves the service after attaining the retiring age, or changes their profession because of some socio-economic reasons. Notably, in America the number of nurses who joined other professions increased from 4% to 8% from 2000 to 2004 and by 2020 it was expected that the figure would reach 30% if no intervention measures would have done. In 2013, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average turnover for registered nurses was 14.2% and the figure would increase in case the government and other stakeholders would not take any relevant measures to address the challenge (Dawson et al., 2013). Apart from that, the number of aging population in many countries have increased relative the number of nurses in service. Most developed countries have constricted or “block” population pyramid, which shows that the number of aged population is higher or equal to that of the productive or young population and for that reason, such a population requires an increased number of nurses.
In order to understand the issue of increasing nurse shortage and nurse turnover, it is important to review some of the causes. Firstly, nursing shortage and nurse turnover problems are caused by management issues, low working morale, poor working environment, work overloads, low remunerations, and amount to time spent out of duty among others (Chan, McBey & Basset, 2004). In order to reduce nursing shortage and nurse turnover, it is manager nurses or nurse leaders are expected to take a number of managerial and leadership intervention strategies.

The approach of nurse leaders and managers

The problem of nursing shortage and nurse turnover differ with states or countries. It is observed that nurse leaders who provide bonuses to nurses willing to relocate to remote places or work overtime record a low rate or nursing shortages and nurse turnover as compared to those that do not. Even though the code of professionalism and terms of contract may be the same in different states or countries, those that provide a support especially to elderly experience fewer cases of nursing shortages and low nurse turnover (Buchan & Aiken, 2008).
They can do this by supporting their work with automating the practice or service delivery to make it effective and enjoyable. According to the Kanter’s management empowerment theory, the management owes employees a role of providing them with necessary resources that they need to execute their roles. On the same note, nurse leaders are expected to provide modern medical equipment, which will help in ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in executing nursing roles.
It is a common practice or experience at a healthcare work place for a nurse leader to settle dispute or issues relating elderly and young nurses. For this reason, nurse leaders are supposed to develop creative ways of effective problems solving and even engage all nurses in decision making to ensure that nurse managers address all problems facing nurses. Although nurse leaders and managers have a different way of addressing such a problem, both help in providing solutions to nursing shortages and nurse turnover hence retaining nurses Chan et al., 2004).
As a way of retaining them in practice, nurse leaders are supposed to motivate them by recognizing and rewarding their efforts. According to management experts, employers or managers who embrace the theory of Maslow hierarchy of needs to their employees increase the productivity per employee. In such a case, nurse leaders and managers should help nurses in acquiring basic needs, social needs (such as guiding and counseling), safety, esteem, and self-actualization (Dawson, Stasa, Roche, Homer & Duffield, 2013). Notably, nurse managers should help in providing security to nurses, facilitate their educational training and above all help them achieve personal goals. This way, the retention rates of nurses will increase because the profession is encouraging, and enjoyable.
Although nurse leaders commonly use even force to or harass nurses to ensure they deliver on their mandate, nurse managers are different in that they develop effective human resource policies, which should help in improving the performance of nurses by relating it to wages and allowances. Nevertheless, nurse managers and leaders usually use different strategies to ensure that they retain their nurses to reduce the rate of nurse turnover. Indisputably, both understand that motivating employees is the cornerstone of retaining nurses.
Apart from that, both nurse leaders and managers are expected to promote a culture of organizational commitment and accountability to ensure that nurses are committed to executing medical duties without launching complains. However, it should be noted that nurse managers are tasked with control, management and planning on how to reduce nursing shortages and nurse turnover, while nurse leaders know how to motivate, inspire and empower nurses to work so that healthcare goals can be achieved.

An approach that suits my style of leadership

I think that a transformational leadership style suits my approach because it is known for improving employee productivity and hence an improved performance at a healthcare facility. Ideally, I know this leadership style embraces the spirit of team playing, which in turn ensures job satisfaction and retention of nurses (Kelly & Tazbir, 2013). In the contemporary nursing environment, the leadership culture of command and control no longer works because nursing profession requires personal commitment and sacrifice on the job. Apart from that, I believe that a transformational leader is able to establish changes in the nursing environment and adjust his leadership or way of working as a way of inspiring other licensed nurses. The evidence-based approach in nursing acknowledge and supports transformational leadership because it reduces nurse turnover and hence nurse shortages.

References

Buchan, J., & Aiken, L. (2008). Solving nursing shortages: A common priority. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(24), 3262–3268-3262–3268.
Chan, C., McBey, K., & Basset, M. (2004). Nursing Crisis: Retention Strategies for Hospital Administrators. Human Resource Management, 12(2), 31-56.
Dawson, A., Stasa, H., Roche, M., Homer, C., & Duffield, C. (2013). Nursing churn and turnover in Australian hospitals: Nurses perceptions and suggestions for supportive strategies. BMC Nursing, 13(11), 172-175.
Feldman, H. (2003). The nursing shortage strategies for recruitment and retention in clinical practice and education. New York: Springer Pub.
Kelly, P., & Tazbir, J. (2013). Essentials of nursing leadership & management (Third ed.). New York: Cengage Learning.