Nursing professionals have a significant role to play in delivering of transformation health care. The aim of this of this document is to examine the aspect of leadership in nursing education. Nurses face various challenges in the delivery of their services due to the unique nature of their services and unique needs of each client. There is need to structure health care system in a way that promotes convenient and affordable patient-centered care (Hermalin, 1998). However, this transformation health care is possible in an environment where all nurses are informed about the organizational goals and empowered to provide patient-centered health care. Nurses make choices that impact the organizational performance significantly by affecting their performance and efficiency of resource allocation (Platt & Kwasky, 2012). This document evaluates the role of nursing leadership education in promoting a culture that reflects the organizational mission and vision through setting policies to influence the organization performance. It will examine the significance of economics and finance education in health care system. Although nurses are not trained as leaders every nurse is a leader in various aspects hence they need knowledge on leadership to help them in making various decisions for effective health care delivery.
The nursing leadership is responsible for restructuring various roles, responsibilities and functions of other nurses in the health care system. However, since every nurse in involved in making independent decisions at various levels of their service delivery every nurse is considered as leaders and as such must possess certain leadership characteristics Leshem, D.2016). The health care setting is highly dynamic and experience challenges caused by changes in technology, increasing competition and high customer expectations, creativity and innovation leadership, increasing diversity in the workplace and the rising concerns about accountability. The dynamism of the workplace requires empowerment of nurses and visionary leadership that can internalize the internal and external environment to determine how it impacts the organization and strategies that can be put in place to enhance organization performance. The health care leadership must focus on reducing the cost of health care services, enhance productivity, quality healthcare and safety environment among other objectives (Junjie, 2016). Health care education for the nurses is essential for promoting a culture of collective decision-making and optimistic outcome for both patients and employees.
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The main goals of the health care organizations are to enhance the safety of the patients, empower employees to focus deliver patient-centered care and ensure cost-effective health care (Wallis & Dollery, 2005). The leadership Nursing Education is critical because it enlightens medical professionals about the various challenges facing the health care system including the issues of escalating cost of health care, need to contain the cost and inadequacy of resources (Platt & Kwasky, 2012). It gives nurses core competencies in various areas such as the use of informatics, promoting interdisciplinary teams, quality improvements and evidence-based performances. The nursing leadership has the responsibility of building the capacity of nurses to acquire effective leadership skills. Effective nursing leadership should enhance communication between health care professionals and their clients. They should communicate effectively with other staff about the organizational goals, vision and objectives (Penner, 2017). The nursing leadership should recognize and utilize the talents inherent in the diverse workforce by creating an environment that attracts an interdisciplinary workforce.
Economics focus on how firms and individuals make decisions taking into consideration of the scarcity of resources and the need to maximize consumption. The integration of economics and finance in medial field helps the nurses to maximize the efficiency of service delivery with productivity (Hermalin, 1998). It builds the capacity of nurses to make policies that can achieve desired performance. Considering every nurse is a leader in their own respect each of the nurses should be able to share their unique knowledge with other staff to achieve a common goal. Each nurse interacts with various clients and acquires specialized knowledge that need to be shared with their colleagues. The knowledge of finances can help nurses to reduce the cost of service delivery and reinvest the savings on other activities that can help improve the quality of services offered to the patients (Wallis & Dollery, 2005). Nurses require financial knowledge to interpret financial reports and share the knowledge with other nurses to ensure effective management of resources.
The healthcare organization should set standards of behavior of nurses in the organization. They should set acceptable standards of behavior for their staff and align them with the organization’s missions, goals and values (Junjie, 2016). They should promote effective communication within the organization to ensure that nurses are aware of the changing when they occur and they can communicate the changes with their colleagues (Leshem, 2016). Also, nurses and other health care staff are involved in making decisions involving health capital, insurance. Without adequate knowledge of how various policies will impact the organization and delivery of effective care the nurses cannot make effective policies. The hiring of nurses involves a cost to the organization, but the nurses also add value to the organization (Penner, 2017). With adequate knowledge of economics and finance, the nursing leadership can understand their roles not only as cost generators but also as income generators. Through leadership education, nurses become effective in policy making and good governance.
In conclusion, this document has examined the importance of integrating economics and financial in nursing leadership. Nursing leadership education enlightens nurses of the rising cost of healthcare services, resource scarcity hence the nurse’s roles and responsibility in containing the cost and identifying savings opportunities. Effective organizational leadership should be inclusive of all the staff members. Empowering of nurses through leadership education is essential for effective decision making because it empowers the nurses to have adequate knowledge of what is expected and ensure they make effective decisions. The organization should establish a culture that values all the staff and enhance communication for effective decision making. Health care education can help the organization to satisfy the expectations of the patients and the staff. Education in Nursing leadership is essential for preparing nurses to focus on the overall effects in healthcare care. It can contribute to overall cost reduction and enhance performance in the delivery of services.
- Hermalin, B. E. (1998). Toward an Economic Theory of Leadership: Leading by Example. The American Economic Review, Vol. 88(5); 1188-1206. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/116866
- Junjie, Z. (2016). Economics of leadership and hierarchy. Games and Economic Behavior 95; 88-106.
- Leshem, D. (2016). Retrospectives: What Did the Ancient Greeks Mean by Oikonomia? Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 30(1); Pp. 225-38). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.niagara.edu/stable/43710018
- Penner, S.J. (2017). Economics and Financial Management for Nurses and Nurse Leaders, 3rd Ed. New York; Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
- Platt, M. & Kwasky, A.N. (2012). The current state of health economics education in nursing programs in the United States. Academy of Health Care Management Journal, Vol. 8(2); 94-105.
- Wallis, J. & Dollery, B. (2005). Leadership and Economic Theories of Nonprofit Organizations. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.niagara.edu/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=nysl_we_niagarau&v=
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