Effective Strategies for Nursing Leadership from an Ethic-of-Care Perspective
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Nurses encounter several ethical dilemmas in their daily practice and are required to make decisions based on available research, issues learnt in school and their own personal beliefs. Ethical dilemmas are difficult to solve. A single decision by the nurse may not please everybody concerned, including hospital management and the patients guardians and relatives. Although it is important to have the basic ethical principles and knowledge from research, it is still very difficult to make a decision in an ethical dilemma.
One way of resolving ethical dilemmas in contemporary nursing is through building inter-professional relationships with other professionals in related fields. Inter-professional relations can help nurses enforce evidence-based approach. Contemporary nursing relies heavily on an evidence-based approach, which requires practitioners to utilize their nursing knowledge and research skills to deliver quality care and service. Evidence-based approach requires all treatment approaches to be backed with reliable theories and scientific knowledge. Evidence based approach in nursing seeks to bring together relevant knowledge from various disciplines in order to help create a holistic understanding of human beings and the various factors affecting human health.
The inter-professional relations among nurses can be better managed within the theoretical framework of ethics of care. The ethics of care theory emanated from the feminist movements in the twentieth century (Machan, 2007). One of the founders of the theory is Carol Gilligan, who criticized both the deontological and consequentialism theories for not adequately guiding people to act right in most situations. The ethics of care theory is based on the responsiveness of individuals to various situations and seeks to address the question how do we respond? instead of what is right? The theory is based on three main principles. The first principle is that human beings depend on each other for their own success. The second principle states that the individuals who are most vulnerable to our actions need more consideration and care from us that any other people (Armstrong, 2002). Finally it is important for one to fully understand the contexts of specific situations in order to be able to advance the interests of those involved in the situation.
Effective Strategies for DNP-Prepared Nursing
Based on the ethics of care model, there are several strategies that nurses DNP nurses can employ within their profession to become more effective in their work. For instance, collaboration is one of the most effective approaches for DNP prepared nurses. Through collaboration, the nurses can learn from each other and improve o their deliver of healthcare. The other critical approach is mentorship. Mentorship allows for younger nurses to learn from the experienced nurses in a mentorship program that focuses on helping younger professionals in the field.
Question 9: how would a DNP-prepared leader enable forces of magnetism to improve the future of nursing?
Nursing practice involves a lot of knowledge from nursing theories. Therefore, one has to will borrow a lot from other great scholars that that have contributed positively to the nursing profession through formulating theoretical frameworks that are useful in shaping the profession. Nursing knowledge shares a lot with knowledge from other disciplines such as humanities and other natural sciences.
Both nursing and humanities focus on understanding individuals and their environments in order to improve living conditions. Knowledge from humanities can enrich my nursing practices by enabling me to understand social aspects of diseases, and understanding how patients interact with other members of the society. Nursing should be at the forefront of promoting social justice in the society through helping people realize their full potential in their societies. Ones professional practice borrows a lot from other nursing theories and models including Casey's Model of Nursing and Callista Roys adaptation model of nursing. These two models of nursing deal with the basic elements of nursing such as relationship between patients and nurses as well as the environment for nurse practice.
As a professional nurse, one is obliged to contribute to growth and development of the nursing discipline and profession. The nursing professional has existed for several years and continues to remain relevant today due to contributions from different nursing scholars and professional nurses. Contemporary nurses have benefited from contributions of other people; it is good to give back to the professional by contributing at any level in order to ensure continuity and relevance of the nursing field in to the future. A nurse can contribute to the development of the profession in various ways including being part of critical decision making in management of health facilities, training other young professionals in colleges, promoting new technology and emerging treatment approaches, through offering scholarly advice to other professionals through publications such as nursing journals and books (Allen, 2011).
One can also contribute to growth of the profession by being honest, ethical and consistent with professional values of the nursing professionals. This entails a nurse being a good example to others in the professional or to younger professionals joining the field. One therefore has different avenues to contribute to the growth of the nursing profession regardless of the level of their career (American Nurses Association, 2010). In my professional practice, I will strive to promote values of the nursing profession and contribute to development of the discipline through mentoring young students or professionals in the field.
This will help one to nurture future professionals and ensure that the profession continues to grow. A DNP prepared nurse also has to strive rive to be at the forefront of changes in the profession in terms of technology and contemporary responses to diseases. One also has to advance my knowledge in nursing in order to be a resource and a consultant in the profession (Peterson, & Bredow, 2009). Another way in which one can contribute to the nursing profession is through research and developing theories that improve the quality of service in the profession and enrich relationship between nursing practitioners and other stakeholders in healthcare, including patients.
Nursing practice is based on paradigms that consist of beliefs, theories and values that one acquires overtime and makes them an essential part of their practice (Basavanthappa, 2008). Paradigms inform methodologies that a nurse chooses to employ in their practice. Ones personal paradigm is based on beliefs such as hard work, consistency, research, ethics, and deep religious values. All these values and beliefs help me to understand my environment and my clients. Incorporating these values with my nursing knowledge, a DNP prepared nurse will be able to expand my comprehension of the nursing profession and improve my interaction with patients.
References
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