Application: Change and Organizations, Essay Example

The nursing profession is one of multifaceted opportunities. Individuals who work as a registered nurse may find skills in other areas which they were not aware of. Exploring leadership potential for professional advancement requires characteristics consistent with a leader who can also be a follower and understand when to use the appropriate style at the proper time. Grossman and Valiga in the text The New Leadership Challenge: Creating the Future of Nursing provide an effective tool and resource for nurses and nursing students to explore leadership potential; and explain the difference between leadership and management (2008).

I work in a long term care facility within the structure of the Genesis Health System as a unit manager. The nursing manager recognized that a change was needed to foster and encourage higher quality of care. Two unit managers, both LPNs along with an LPN MDS coordinator and LPN restorative nurse comprised the structure of the unit. After a careful evaluation the nursing manager decided to replace the two LPN unit managers with RN managers. The rationale for this move being the need to provide the level of care which only a registered nurse is allowed to deliver.  Having all LPNs was not an optimal balance for quality of care.

The nursing manager went through several other departments within the organization. A structural examination was performed to determine the need for various nursing capacities within the unit. Human resources were contacted to ensure equity among the staff and organization as a whole. This restructuring provided an unexpected organizational culture change. While the pre-existing personnel were all LPNs, adding the RNs gave a new perspective to the unit. The need to call in help from other units when necessary procedures had to be carried out which only an RN is allowed to perform was quickly resolved by providing a better balance of skill sets to the unit.

Overall, the nursing manager was able to see the need for a better organizational structure.  An investigation into the current roles and positions were reviewed giving the picture for what was needed. The nursing manager connected with other departments for benchmarking and appropriate organizational chain-of-command to implement a structure which would deliver a higher quality of care to the patients, based on sound judgment and organizational needs.

References

Grossman, S.C., & Valiga, T.M. (2009). The new leadership challenge; creating the future of nursing, 3^rd Ed.  Philadelphia, PA; F.A. Davis Company.