Caring is nursing’s primary objective and is predicated on quality care provision and patient safety. However, healthcare organizations can only attain their nursing goals by creating a patient-centered, team-oriented culture emphasizing collaboration and workforce cohesion, helping nurses share vital population health insights that steer evidence-based practice (EBP). Nursing administrators play a critical role in establishing health work environments in their organizations by setting possible standards of practice in all departments. Consequently, nurses entrusted with administrative responsibilities should have practicable leadership philosophies that help develop a quality and safety culture. Further, practical leadership approaches are vital for seamless change management, while quality measures and indicators help track progress. Hence, nursing administrators should exhibit enhanced personal and professional values that facilitate their organizations’ quality and safety goals.
Leadership Philosophy
The leadership philosophy entails the values and belief systems leveraged by people in headship positions, including nursing administrators, to guide their decision-making and goal-setting. My leadership philosophy: I promote positive, caring experiences among patients by ensuring a good rapport between the nursing team and patients. Further, I champion adherence to all professional nursing guidelines and ethical values as they steer compassion and enable me to prioritize care quality and safety by respecting patient integrity and rights. Thus, my leadership philosophy is centered on patient well-being.
Strategies for Creating a Culture of a Quality and Safe Work Environment
Several processes may help nursing administrators establish a quality and safe work environment culture. Firstly, transformational leadership is crucial in creating cohesion and increasing morale in the department, following the disorder caused by subjecting nurses to a long period of transitory leaders. Anselmann & Mulder (2020) identify transformational leadership as essential in nursing administration, especially during a change process, as it facilitates information-sharing and reflection, helping harmonize beliefs, values, and goals. Consequently, the approach would steer appreciative inquiry to enable me to recognize processes that work in the department and determine areas that require change. Secondly, accentuating the organization’s code of ethics would help the unit staff reflect on the impact of their clinical actions and decisions in promoting positive, caring experiences. As a result, I would also state my leadership philosophy and explain its relevance per the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Scope and Standards of Practice, which emphasizes quality care. For example, ANA provides safety and quality standards that require enhanced coordination among the nursing staff to facilitate EBP through practical judgment and scientific inquiry (Brunt & Russell, 2022). The strategy would help model the existing culture to match professional nursing ethics and create a safe work environment. Training would be another viable approach to creating a quality and safety culture. I would prioritize the quality and safety standards stressed by top healthcare accreditation agencies, including The Joint Commission and Institute of Medicine. The strategies promote positive patient outcomes by emphasizing caring, where collaboration and ethical principles are leveraged to create a safe work environment.
Performance Measurement
Medical records, administrative claims, and patient surveys are the tools that would be used to assess progress within six months. According to Jedwab et al. (2019), electronic medical records offer workflow insights, where revenues and business management metrics may help determine the influence of strategic nursing environment changes, improving patient experiences. On the other hand, reducing administrative claims within six months, mainly due to medical errors committed by nurses, would reflect enhanced quality and safety in the organization. Further, patient surveys would gauge satisfaction and nursing impression with the period, helping determine the extent of improvement achieved (Banda et al., 2023). Performance evaluation is vital in establishing the impact of the strategies adopted to ensure a quality and safe work environment.
Overall, nursing administrators influence workplace culture in their organizations, which is crucial in promoting quality and safe healthcare. Leadership philosophies provide the principles that guide decision-making strategies, primarily during change processes, where personal and professional ethics should be intertwined to ensure positive patient outcomes. Training is fundamental to creating a quality and safe clinical environment. Therefore, effective leadership is vital in attaining nursing objectives.
References
Anselmann, V., & Mulder, R. H. (2020). Transformational leadership, knowledge sharing and reflection, and work teams’ performance: A structural equation modeling analysis. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(7), 1627-1634.
Banda, S., Nkungula, N., Chiumia, I. K., Rylance, J., & Limbani, F. (2023). Tools for measuring client experiences and satisfaction with healthcare in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic review of measurement properties. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 133.
Brunt, B. A., & Russell, J. (2022). Nursing professional development standards. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
Jedwab, R. M., Chalmers, C., Dobroff, N., & Redley, B. (2019). Measuring nursing benefits of an electronic medical record system: A scoping review. Collegian, 26(5), 562-582.
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