NUR 674 Practicum journal: Power
Journaling provides a valuable tool for recording, reflecting on, and reviewing your learning. This approach provides an opportunity for you to connect the dots and observe the relationships between and among activities, interactions, and outcomes.
Unlike a personal journal of thoughts and feelings, this leadership journal is a record of your activities, assessments, and learning related to this academic experience.
Journal entries should include a record of the number of hours spent with your nurse leader each week.
Write a journal entry of 750 words on the subject of power, including the following:
Practicum Activities Reflection: Provide observations and thoughts on the activities in your practicum setting with nursing leadership and interprofessional collaboration.
Application of Leadership: Professional responsibility and power, authenticity, integrity, and emotional intelligence are key factors of multiple leadership styles. Discuss how you have observed your preceptor or your nurse leader in your professional setting integrate these elements into leadership styles.
Practicum Project Preparation: My practicum project will be on how nurse leaders can initiate and manage change. How does this project refine and build skills related to your career goals? My hopes are that this will meet the objective of performance improvement and staff development.
Leadership Video Reflection: Reflect on at least two things you learned from the Servant Leadership Issue of Power video.
Use the Leadership Journal Template to complete this assignment.
APA style is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.
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Solution
Leadership Journal
Name:
Weeks Covering:
Preceptor/Mentor:
Clinical/Practicum Site:
Hours Worked (past 2 weeks):___
Total Hours: ____/150 total of all hours worked up to this point
Practicum Leadership Journal
Practicum is an essential program, especially for nursing students. It helps them gain more field experience and exposes them to a practical world where they can put the concepts and theories learned in class into practice. In addition, the practicum journal aims at reflecting on how nursing leaders manage change. Therefore, the journal will focus on practicum activities reflection, application of leadership, practicum project preparation, and leadership video reflection.
Practicum Activities Reflection:
Leadership essence revolves around the ability of a leader to use their power to influence and motivate other people. McCay et al. (2018) accentuate that a leader can use their power negatively or positively, which results in various consequences. During my nursing practicum, I realized that our nursing leader used a different method when engaging with the nurses in a different situation. For instance, whenever there would be an issue in any department, the leader would call out nurses for an emergency meeting that would help approach the situation in a more informed way. However, some leaders always believe that the best way to solve the upcoming issues is by punishing or using coercion so long as they are in power. The approach may at some help, but in general, it instills fear in the subordinate staff. After researching, I realized that our leaders approach to governing the nursing staff was mainly the transformative perspective. Wheeler and Beaman (2018) accentuate that transformational leadership enables leaders to utilize their power in favor of their subordinates by encouraging them and providing better working conditions. Also, I noted that our nursing leader always encouraged team collaboration. For instance, when planning out the nursing roles, the nursing leader ensured that the nursing students carrying out their practicum would integrate with the registered nurses, thus developing strong bonds. Such collaboration is effective since it helps in increasing the nursing students skills and confidence in achieving patients overall outcomes.
Application of Leadership:
All leaders should ensure that as they exercise their power, integrity, authenticity, emotional intelligence, and professional responsibility are the key in their profession. According to McCay et al. (2018), leaders who excel in their profession always utilize their power to benefit the whole team. Hence, power becomes toxic when the leaders become self-centered at the expense of their team and good ethics. As a result, our nurse leader used a dynamic approach when executing his task to ensure that the healthcare professionals achieved the healthcare organizations goals. For instance, whenever an issue came up, the nursing leader alerted the nurse fraternity that they had many nursing students to inspire. As a result, he always encouraged the nurses to conduct themselves in the right way to save their reputation from us. However, he would, later on, call out the nurses privately and summon them. Such actions proved that the nurse leader used his power effectively to achieve professional responsibility, integrity, and authenticity. Also, I realized that to be an effective leader, and they should employ emotional intelligence to support their positive power influence. For instance, during my first week of nursing practicum, I was always nervous. Even if I had any questions, I would ask another nursing student to ask on my behalf since I did not dare engage with people in a new environment. After noting the situation, the nurse leader called me privately, where we discussed my fears and promised to take me through. Such action motivated me more to gain confidence and trust myself and those around me. Hence, through the transformational leadership of the nurse leader, he would create a great rapport with all nursing staff and students, thus becoming their strong foundation.
Practicum Project Preparation:
Nurse leaders act as the foundation towards change where they have the responsibility to initiate and manage it in healthcare organizations. Wheeler and Beaman (2018) posit that nurse leaders should know the skills and leadership styles they should involve to make any change in a healthcare organization. Hence, from the practicum, I have gained various skills like encouraging interprofessional collaboration among nursing professionals to improve patient experience, safety, and overall outcome. Also, I have witnessed the need to use a transformational leadership style. It helps a leader create a strong rapport with the healthcare providers, thus improving their performance and job satisfaction. Therefore, in my future endeavors, I will ensure that my nurse leadership will always be firm in ethical practices and incline more on emotional intelligence for a successful interprofessional collaboration encounter.
Leadership Video Reflection:
The two factors learned from the video Issues of Power are managing people and influencing people through dynamic art. GCU Academics Nursing (2016, 1.34-0.38) captures the speaker quoting that successful leaders do not equate their employees to money. The speaker believes that it is easy to control other aspects once a leader has managed the people from his perspective. That is due to the strong influence that employees in an organization have on the organizations success. Therefore, when I become a leader, I will always create a strong rapport with my juniors to motivate them and increase their productivity. The use of dynamic art to influence people is a factor summed up by the video. As a nursing leader, I learned that there is a need to engage in ethical behaviors and activities since the juniors emulate the leaders. Hence, the practicum has created a great chance to develop my leadership skills for my future nursing career.
Conclusion
The practicum journal involves an analysis of my experience and thoughts about nurse leadership in initiating and managing change. Therefore, the journal evaluates more on how nurse leaders utilize their power in managing the healthcare providers.
References
GCU Academics Nursing. (October 10, 2016). Servant Leadership The Issue of Power. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8yMNFMp0k8
McCay, R., Lyles, A. A., & Larkey, L. (2018). Nurse leadership style, nurse satisfaction, and patient satisfaction: a systematic review. Journal of nursing care quality, 33(4), 361-367.
Wheeler, K., & Beaman, M. (2018). The effects of a transformational nursing leadership program on perceived leader behavior. J Nurs Healthcare Managers [Internet], 1(1).
