The value of nursing leadership to healthcare reform Scholarship Essay

The value of nursing leadership to healthcare reform - Scholarship Essay Example These factors hold good whether the reform takes place in the public or private sector, and whether it takes place in a service or manufacturing industry/area. As can be seen from the above section, the change process requires leadership from all levels of the organization including physicians, top management, nursing staff, and other sections of service providers in the healthcare sector. This paper reviews the concept of nursing leadership in the context of healthcare reforms. It is felt that developing leadership among nurses is important since they play an important role in healthcare. It is these employees who have the closest association with patients and are responsible for implementing any reforms that are implemented for their (patient’s) benefit. In the process, the paper will review the concepts of leadership (in nursing) reform/ change management, and how it can be applied to the nursing sector. The area of study (through review of literature) will be the healthcar e reforms in the United States. Leadership in the nursing industry – a brief review: The problem within an organization is to identify and develop leadership qualities among its employees at different levels. The problem with the nursing sector was that they are seen as submissive to the demands put forward by their hierarchical superiors and the demands of the patients (Ivanov & Blue, 2008, 19). With such behviours engrained into the profession, it would be a challenge to develop competent nurse leaders even in a status quo situation. It becomes more challenging when reforms are involved. Secondly, the nursing profession has been plagued by a command and control style according to Moss (2005, 80). In effect, an autocratic style of leadership is exhibited by nursing managers towards their subordinates. The author is of the opinion that this creates an atmosphere that is not conducive to development of leadership within the profession. What is required is a participative or tr ansformational approach by the leader who is attuned to the sensitivities of their subordinates and patients. They should also be receptive to new ideas whether it is provided by superiors or subordinates. The advantage here is that subordinates will have a sense of fulfillment and will become willing participants in the reform process. More on leadership styles and its impact on the nursing leadership concept will be given in later sections of this paper. The third major challenge, especially in the United States is severe shortage of qualified nurses. According to some studies, a shortage of forty thousand to one million nurses will be experienced in the healthcare sector in the country by 2020. It can be said that these are the main challenges to developing effective nursing leadership. Healthcare reform in nursing: Nursing is all about caring and the profession should develop a humanistic approach with regard to patients, other staff members, the organization and the community ( Marshall & Coughlin, 2011, 185). Healthcare reforms usually focus on streamlining the affordability of healthcare, insurance issues, and solving the problems associated with Medicare and Medicaid (through reduced government spending), these does not directly affect the nursing profession at the grassroots level. These are basically administrative, social, and financial issues and nursing professionals have to implement the statutes and guidelines that are brought about