Nursing Leadership Guide

To be successful in today's health care arena, nurse leaders need a variety of skills. Guided by theory and research, implementation of leadership and management skills affords nurses the opportunity to collaborate, head teams, and facilitate optimal health care delivery in a variety of settings. With these changes, the role of the professional nurse is dynamic and challenging. Preparation for these changes gives the professional nurse a solid understanding of the dynamics needed for the situation at hand.

In order to develop leadership and management competencies, it is vital that a historical review as well as knowledge and understanding of present day leadership and management theory be realized. Coupling this foundation with personal style and situational need is a formula for leadership success. This simply adds more tools to the professional toolbox. The more options we have, the better able we are to match our actions to the situation presented. With this additional scope of understanding, the professional nurse can demonstrate the dynamics necessary for success. In addition to meeting immediate demands, planning and implementing long-term change in relation to current and future health problems can be put into action.

For your course project, you will develop a leadership guide for a group of junior nurse managers participating in a leadership class. The leadership guide should speak to a variety of leadership components. Your professional conceptualization will be based on your current or past practice. Consideration of change and health care delivery in your area of nursing, professional and personal values, holistic assessment and implementation, and current climate and culture will be included in this guide. These dynamics will be explained within the framework of nursing theory, historical understanding, and predictive outcomes and needs.

In the final step of developing the guide in Unit 10, you will bring all of these components together along with a one-page summary that discusses how having this knowledge can impact the nurse's role in leadership and management. You may organize your leadership guide in any order, but it should follow a logical sequence. You may also be creative and incorporate graphics if you wish; just be sure that you have included and addressed all of the required components.

In this unit, you will submit the culmination of your course project-the Nursing Leadership Guide assignment. This guide should be developed for a group of junior nurse managers, who are taking part in a leadership class. In addition to the four project components that you have already developed in Units 2, 3, 5 and 8, your guide should demonstrate your understanding of the influence of nursing history and theory on current nursing leadership practice.

In the final step of developing the guide, you will bring all of these components together, along with a one-page summary that discusses how moral, legal, and ethical behaviors can influence a nurse's role in leadership and management. You may organize your leadership guide in any order, but it should follow a logical sequence. You may also be creative and incorporate graphics; just be sure that you have included and addressed all of the required components that you will be graded upon.

Your completed guide should contain these components:

Title page.

Table of contents.

Assessment of a Nursing Leadership Problem (Unit 2).

Annotated Bibliography (Unit 3).

Leadership Theories, Styles, and Application (Unit 5).

Strategic Analysis and Leadership Interventions (Unit 8).

One-page summary.

Reference page.

Writing Requirements

Length: Your paper must be at least 10-12 pages long, excluding the title and references pages.

Use double spacing with one-inch margins.

Use Times New Roman, 12-point font.

Format the paper (including references) according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting guidelines.
References: At least 15 references. Please include the sources from your annotated bibliography as part of your references. You may use your text and other articles provided in the course but be sure to provide a minimum of two references from other sources. Use APA style throughout.

Project Objectives

To successfully complete this project, you will be expected to:

Evaluate theories and practices of leadership and management for application to specific health care situations.

Reflect on personal leadership style and preferences based on contemporary theory.

Incorporate knowledge of nursing history and theory into nursing practice.

Integrate the standards of the professional nurse and nurse leader (ethical, professional, legal) into one's own nursing practice.

Apply effective clinical knowledge, skills, and judgment of the professional nurse and nurse leader in direct and indirect clinical practice settings to promote patient safety and quality outcomes.

Review the literature in the field of nursing for application to plans of care and coordination of services for direct and indirect patient care situations.

Integrate effective evidence-based leadership, management strategies, and practices into one's own professional practice.

Incorporate the attributes of professionalism (altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice) into professional nursing practice.

Evaluate the benefits and limitations of how health care is financed and services reimbursed on health service delivery and patient outcomes.

Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics; and correctly format citations using APA style.