Chaos in healthcare system

“The healthcare system is in chaos. It is critical then that contemporary nursing and healthcare leaders identify skills sets that will be needed by nurse leaders in 2020 and begin now to create the educational models and development programs necessary to assure these skills are present” (Huston, 2008). Discuss the above statement.

Nursing profession is quite demanding and requires passion and determination. As according to Jourdain and Chenevert (2010), many nurses have intentions to leave the profession due to emotional exhaustion that is always contributed by the demands of their roles in the health care giving. During training in the nursing schools, research has indicated that the nursing students get bullied by qualified nurses. This reduces their self esteem which reflects on the poor services they offer in the hospitals (Randle , 2003). Randled suggested that this behavior will change when the nurses and educators transform their practice to avoid socializing the new nurses into negative practices that leads to compromised nursing care. The fragmentation of care mostly seen among physicians and health providers have highly contributed to high mortality and development of related diseases in patients. Lack of care coordination that has been associated with poor payments of physicians, independent practices and lack of electronic information observed in the hospital set ups, are the frequently experienced challenges. The healthcare system is in chaos (Huston, 2008). Lack of enough resources and enough training for the care provider has led to low quality service and minimized leadership among the nurse leaders. Strikes due to low salaries, high cost of services offered to the patients, development and implementation of policies that do not favour health practitioners and poor communication among health organizations are chaos that have affected the healthcare system. Therefore, it is important that a skill set for nurse leaders is identified and ensured that is in place by the contemporary nurses and healthcare leaders to eradicate this chaos. Healthcare reforms is vital for policy makers, health professionals and the public for effective providence of quality, affordable and reliable services (Ash, Miller and Zaccagnini, 2010).

As stated by Houston (2008), for 2020, the competence for nurse leaders position will require new skills that will facilitate smooth working environment and reduce chaos in the healthcare system. The contemporary nursing and healthcare leaders need to ensure that a nursing leader acquires all the skills during his professional training. The nurse leader should demonstrate the following qualities

Skills for effective nursing leadership

Many organizations including hospitals are over managed than led (Sossik and Godshalk, 2000). Lack of good leadership skills has led to demotivation of the workers which is reflected in the quality of the work they do. A nurse leader should have skills such as motivating skills, creativity, vision oriented as well as training skills. A leader who is unapproachable by the other staffs make it hard for the workers to consult or enquire about a situation.As stated byVesterinen, Suhonene, Isola and Paasiyaara (2012), when a nurse manager analyses his behavior and know the impact it has on his employ, can be in a position to adapt good leadership style. The leader should have good communication skills. In the nursing field, the nurse spends most of the time with the patients. The nurse act as an intermediary between the physician and the patient or the relatives to the patient. Therefore, a nurse leader should be in a position to convey the right information to the relevant person (Russell and Scoble,2003). During crisis in the hospital between the physician and the nurses the nurse leader should be the person to solve this problem. Lack of problem solving skills among many nurse leaders has prolonged unsolved disputes that affects the quality of services offered to the patients. this skill should therefore be trained to prospective nurse leaders.

As according to Cowan (2014), technology is changing day in day out. Health organizations should therefore ensure that the nurse leaders are well trained in the technological aspect. As major chaos in the healthcare system, limited use of electronic information, good skills in preparation of organization information especially of the nurse sector is vital. The physician requires proper monitoring of the inpatients for better treatment. Therefore, lack of accurate information about the patient may led to poor diagnosis that may affect the health of the patient negatively. New softwares are introduced in the health sector daily. These leaders should be up to date with the new system for efficient communication and service providence. Reports that are monthly presented to the government from health sectors are usually prepared by these leaders. Due to advanced technology, the reports are send electronically hence the technology skills are so essential for nurse leaders. The training should be done regularly and also added to the curriculum of the nursing training to ensure qualified nurses are released to the market.

Leadership skills

Uncivilized behaviors such as absenteeism in the workplace has led to increased burnout and decreased commitment and job satisfaction among the workers (Laschinger, Wong, Cummings and Grau,2014). A nurse leader should be in a position to create a positive culture in the workplace to enhance success of the organization. Therefore, a good working environment motivates the staff and it has shown positive impact in reduction of patients’ mortality. The leader should therefore be able to detect any change in the work place and act immediately to solve the challenge soas to be able to maintain the positive working environment. However, in the hospitals today,the leaders tend to overlook their roles and hence do not promote good working environment leading to increased irresponsibility among the staff which directly leads to poor quality services. hence a nurse leader should be able to create a positive culture in the workplace.

When new updates on health are released by the researchers and other health organizations, hospital leaders are considered as the first group to acquire the information and later pass it to the other staffs. Therefore, the leaders should have the ability to learn new updates and to train the fellow nurses. As asserted by Curtis, Sheerin, and de Vries (2011), a nurse behavior promotes team effectiveness and skill deficiency in training can therefore led to staff lagging behind on the new updates released. This implies that the staff will be incompetent in the field of their profession. Since this is an important skill for the leaders, training should be enhanced in the training schools and universities to ensure proper knowledge and ability to learn new things have been acquired.

The health sector that is always faced by challenges and various political processes, requires a leader who is able to understand the situation and able to intervene where necessary.  This imply that the leader should be able to identify a need or a challenge in the work place and act to solve it. For instance, a patient insurance cover maybe wrongly filled by the insurance board making the patient not able to receive treatment from the selected hospital. The nurse leader should take the necessary action and enquire about the cover from the insurance body.  In salary crisis, the nurse leader should intervene for the workers salary to be increased. Therefore, this skill is essential to ensure there is smooth running of activities and satisfactory working environment for the staffs.

Technology skills

The success of the campaign of shaping the 2020 nurse leaders will depend on the current leaders in the same position. A leader should be able to pass the knowledge and skills to the new generation of leaders. As stated by Pearsall et all (2014), the ability of a nurse leader to do her roles to minimize risks helps to develop his leadership skill and enable him to build leadership skills in others. This is possible if the leader maximizes on the supportive leadership where the behavior of the leader challenges the staffs and motivates them to work towards success and provision of quality services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, having leaders with the above qualities will facilitate development of an effective healthcare system that will promote quality health services and ensure well being of the community. Therefore, contemporary nursing and health leaders should ensure that these skill set is acquired by the student during the train. They should ensure that prospective nursing leader have adequate leadership skills, technology skills, which are essential to aleader to ensure he is able to communicate or pass information electronically, the leader should be able to promote positive cultures in the places of work and also able to learn new things. The leader should also be in a position to understand and intervene in political processes and also have the ability to mentor other leaders. Models should be developed to ensure effective transfer of the necessary skills to the students is achieved by 2020. As stated by Mumford, Campion and Morgeson (2007), leadership skills requirements are in strata and segments that forms a strata plex model that can be applied in any organization. Therefore, the chaos in the healthcare system that comprises of the healthcare consumer, healthcare provider and arrangement of the delivering healthcare centers will reduce and promote better healthcare services and the health providers will enjoy offering the services and help in attaining the vision 2030.

References

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Sosik, J. J., &Godshalk, V. M. (2000). Leadership styles, mentoring functions received, and job-  related stress: A conceptual model and preliminary study. Journal of organizational behavior, 365-390.

Vesterinen, S., Suhonen, M., Isola, A., &Paasivaara, L. (2012). Nurse managers’ leadership styles             in Finland. Nursing research and practice, 2012.