Educating for Leadership Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Educating for Leadership - Article Example The article is about instituting a leadership programme in a healthcare environment.   It has identified the problem of nurses lacking opportunities to practice leadership skills in schools.   It recognized the current practice of preparing nurses for leadership roles only when they have been appointed to formal leadership positions.As the paper declares  the leadership programme being espoused in the article aims to progressively develop the leadership skills of nurses early in their careers. Implicit here is that it is a long-term programme and that leadership skills are not acquired overnight but can be developed through time.   There is a need to have this programme because leadership quality impacts the quality of patient care and staff satisfaction. Various literatures cited in the article point this out.   Studies have shown the relationship between good nursing leadership and good quality nursing care.   Moreover, constructive leadership behaviours lead to increas ed patient satisfaction, reductions in patient adverse events and decreased complications in various care settings.   Effective nursing leadership resulted in staff retention.   With good nurse leaders, the quality of both patient care and patient and staff satisfaction improves.  The leadership programme described in the article was instituted at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Australia, one of the leading hospitals in teaching and research. This hospital employs over 5,000 personnel of which 2,500 are nursing staff. The programme was comprised of two parts namely, the emerging leader and the developing leader. The emerging leader was designed to foster the acquisition of the beginning leadership skills. The emerging leader workshop is done within the graduate year of the registered nurses. Among the topics included in this workshop are the principles of learning and teaching, performance assessment and conflict management. This workshop has to be completed before the participants can go to the next level of the developing leader. The developing leader workshop consists of personal, interpersonal and professional leadership skills. The personal leadership activities are targeted at developing trust and increasing self-esteem. Interpersonal leadership on the other hand, aspires to develop the nurses’ abilities to work effectively with a team and providing them with feedback with regards to their performance. The professional leadership skills are more concerned with various management tools such as introducing changes in the work environment, identifying problem areas and proposing