Professional Leadership Essay.

1. Professional Mission Statement

As a professional nurse, my mission statement is to provide compassionate care to all my patients, irrespective of their demographic differences on any other factors that influence their health outcomes. I believe that all humans have a duty to love and care for others, and that every human being deserves to be treated equally with integrity and care. Throughout my life experience and education as a nurse, I have developed a caring attitude that I believe would work best in a nursing career.Professional Leadership Essay.

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I believe that patients appreciate this attitude. Hence, I will strive to provide my patients with competent and safe care that not only satisfies their needs, but also the needs of other stakeholders who include family members. Besides that, I intend to care for my patients by leveraging scientific knowledge to include evidence from other publications and knowledge acquired from experience and education. Even as I focus my energies on the concept of care in nursing services delivery, I understand that my intentions must be matched by the right experiences, competences, skills and knowledge. It is for this reason that I will continuously improve my capacity as a nurse by attending advanced education programs. Through sticking to this mission statement, I expect to provide competent care to my patients and make a positive difference in their lives even as I pursue a satisfying career trajectory.Professional Leadership Essay.

2. Professional Summary

The requirement for qualification as a nurse is the continuing competence to practice whose main role is to protect the public safety. This is indicated by the artifacts acquired while attending the education program. In fact, the artifacts serve the primary purpose of compiling evidence that demonstrate my competence to practice, leading to license as a nurse by the state authorities. Currently, two artifacts demonstrate my strengths as a health care professional. The first artifact is the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Certificate of Completion acquired after 18 hours of online learning and covering the areas of improvement capability, patient safety, leadership, person- and family-centered care, and Triple Aim for populations (see Appendix I). The second artifact is the Certificate of Achievement issued by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Western Governors University for a course on Genetics, Genomics, Genethics for Nursing (see Appendix II). I have identified the two artifacts because of the hard work, time and responsibility it took to successfully complete the learning required for the two artifacts. I was taught many valuable lessons in the process of acquiring the two artifacts, and those lessons help me to be a better nurse.Professional Leadership Essay.

Making the decision to improve my educational attainments by enrolling in this program was not easy to make. In fact, I faced four significant challenges before and after enrolling in the program. The first challenge was being overwhelmed with all the possible choices. The program includes many elective courses that are useful to a nursing career, and identifying the best fit for pursuing a successful nursing career was a challenge. This challenge was overcome by consulting academic advices to identify the specific electives that would be useful for successfully pursuing the preferred career trajectory (Zaccagnini& White, 2017).Professional Leadership Essay.

The second challenge was digital literacy. Western Governors University is an online college and attending its programs implies attending classes online. This requires a certain degree to technological proficiency, to include the ability to successfully login, communicate with classmates and teachers, submit coursework, and participate in classes. Other concerns included knowing responsibilities and student rights in an online college environment and understanding online communication etiquette. This challenge was overcome by improving digital literacy and making use of the available technical support services that help with answering technological questions to include live chat, email and phone. The third challenge was technical issues.Professional Leadership Essay. As an online student, I could access classes from any place as long as I had a strong internet connection. Weak connections and low bandwidth make it difficult to attend and participate in class activities. This challenge was overcome by setting up a reliable internet connect. The fourth challenge was time management. Although flexibility and convenience were some of the reasons for choosing an online learning format, juggling family and work responsibilities alongside the school responsibilities was a significant challenge. This challenge was overcome by enlisting help, breaking down responsibilities and identifying time-wasters (Zaccagnini& White, 2017). Professional Leadership Essay.

The coursework has been useful in helping to achieve each of the nine nursing program outcomes. Firstly, the coursework has enabled me effectively communicate in oral, written, interpersonal and electronic modes. The courses included education and practice opportunities that improved my communication proficiency. Secondly, the coursework has improved my clinical reasoning to provide safe, quality, nursing care based on the best available evidence and ethical principles. The course improved my knowledge of nursing concepts and principles, thereby increasing my knowledge base and allowing me to make better decisions.Professional Leadership Essay. Thirdly, the coursework has improved my capacity to assume accountability for providing and ensuring quality, efficient, safe care congruent with legal, professional and ethical standards. The qualifications I will acquire from completing the coursework will enable me to take on more responsibilities and roles at work. Fourthly, the coursework has improved my ability to synthesize empirical, clinical and theoretical knowledge from humanistic, community, scientific and nursing disciplines with nursing practice. This has mainly revolved around evaluating and synthesizing other publications to support specific ideas (Butts & Rich, 2019).Professional Leadership Essay.

Fifthly, the coursework has enabled me to better provide patient-centered, compassionate care to communities, families and individuals from a variety of cultures across the lifespan. Part of the coursework involved exploring the health care needs of different populations, and this improved the capacity to provide care that meets the needs of these populations. Sixthly, the coursework applied education and leadership skills to engage others in creating and promoting a healing environment for continued self-improvement. This was especially the case when completing the course assignments and projects as they involved efforts to explore, understanding and resolve problems in the nursing care environment. Seventhly, the coursework improved the capacity to engage in inter-professional collaboration to improve quality and safety of healthcare. The projects completed as part of the coursework to address/resolve nursing problems required collaborations with other medical professions. Eighthly, the coursework incorporated knowledge of genethics and genomics into the care of communities, families and patients. This was the case when I was issued the Certificate of Achievement by the American Museum of Natural History and Western Governors University for a course on Genetics, Genomics, Genethics for Nursing. Finally, the coursework used information technology to communicate, mitigate error and make decisions related to patient care provision and support incorporation of nursing knowledge in the development of patient care technology. The course content explored some of the useful technologies in nursing care, benefits that can be derived and concerns about the technologies.Professional Leadership Essay.

In addition, the coursework helped me to fulfil the roles of a scientist, detective, and manager of healing environment. Firstly, I fulfilled the role of a scientist by correctly interpreting and applying scientific evidence when planning and providing culturally sensitive, quality and safe nursing care for patients and families. Secondly, I fulfilled the role of a detective by detecting subtle deviations and changes from expected health patterns while managing patient care. Thirdly, I fulfilled the role of manager of healing environment by responding unpredictable events and situations common in the health care environment with appropriate creativity and flexibility (Masters, 2015).Professional Leadership Essay.

Although attending the education program has been a challenge, it has allowed me to experience professional growth from the moment of enrolling in the program and attending the first class. The program has enhanced my credentials and job opportunities even as I learned more about the nursing profession, world around me, and myself. In addition, the program has enhanced my sense of purpose and self-confidence. Besides that, it has helped me manage, lead, speak, write and organize better. Also, it has renewed my love for the nursing profession as I learn new and interesting concepts about nursing even as I stay innovative and avoid burnout. Additionally, the program offered me the opportunity to meet and network with nurse colleagues so that I am able to get useful information on career opportunities and professional development (Renpinning, Gebhardt-Taylor & Pickens, 2016).  Professional Leadership Essay.

Part B. Quality and Safety

1.Professional Definition of Quality and Safety

The program provided some fundamental definitions that linked patient safety with health care quality. It summarized evidence indicating how nurse personnel are in a key position to improve health care quality through patient safety strategies and interventions. Based on the program content, the general definition for quality is that it is the optimal balance between a framework of values and norms and the possibilities realized. It is constructed based on the possibilities and components comprising quality, and interactions among the relevant stakeholders who agree about the values, norms and standards that constitute quality. On the other hand, safety is perceived as the prevention of harm to stakeholders by preventing errors, learning from errors that occur, and building a culture of safety that involves all stakeholders. It helps in identifying the root causes of harm to include technical, system, active and latent failure. Safety practices are targeted at reducing the risk of adverse events related to exposure to nursing care across a range of conditions and diagnoses. Nurses play a key role in care quality and safety by defining, measuring and improving quality and safety. While nursing has always been concerned with quality and safety with nothing being new, the dimensions have changed within the nursing purview. The definition of quality and safety has now been refined so that it becomes the ability to coordinate and integrate the multiple aspects of care delivery with the focus on improving outcomes in the different settings. Nursing presents an integrative function such that greater nursing attention is associated with fewer quality concerns with the reverse being equally true. The integrative function is related to the roles and responsibilities of professional nurses, which includes intercepting errors and near misses, as well as surveillance and monitoring that identifies deteriorations and hazards before they turn into adverse events and errors (Milstead& Short, 2019).Professional Leadership Essay.

2.Institute of Healthcare Improvement Certificate

The Institute of Healthcare Improvement Certificate was issued for successfully completing 18 hours of online learning on quality and safety with a focus on improving capability, patient safety, leadership, person- and family-centered care, and Triple Aim for populations (see Appendix I). The certificate helps in showcasing competence, job advancement, building expertise in the professional areas, and commitment to the profession. In fact, the certificate is a designation earned and which gives employers (current and prospective) the assurance of competencies in performing professional tasks touching on the material covered in the learning content. Besides that, the certificate serves three other functions. Firstly, it is an indicator of prior knowledge of nursing responsibilities that would help with easily adapting to the work environment and quickly advance in the nursing career. Secondly, it indicates that important professional skills have been acquired, and this helps with staying competitive. Finally, it is an indicator of having detailed skills and knowledge required to perform real-world job responsibilities as acquiring the certificate was preceded by a series of tests that assessed the expertise and capabilities in quality and safety (Boykin &Schoenhofer, 2015).Professional Leadership Essay.

Part C. Evidence-Based Practice

1.Professional Definition of Evidence-Based Practice

The program has helped to refine the definition of evidence-based practice (EBP). Nurses have the responsibility of delivering professional care to patients by applying validated interventions. Within the program, nursing students learn about EBP, and its position in point out the care strategies to ensure that available resources are used in the right manner, improve care efficiency and effectiveness, as well as outcomes. The new understanding of EBP, notes that it is an important component of exceptional nursing care that is concerned with integrating the preferences of stakeholders, clinical expertise, and research evidence. It adopts a problem-solving approach to nursing care, which encourages nurse personnel to provide personalized care to the patients. EBP is beneficial to both patients and nurses. Professional Leadership Essay.Through adopting EBP principles, nurses are able to evaluate scientific research outcomes, and this is important for ensuring that they make well-founded decisions. Through EBP, nursing personnel can stay updated about new patient care protocols. By searching for interventions that are documented and fit the profiles of the patient groups, nurses are able to increase the possibility of improving the care outcomes. Additionally, EBP enables nurse to evaluate research outcomes so that they understand the effectiveness and risks of treatments and diagnostic tests. Applying EBP enables nurses to include patients in their care plans so that they (patients) can take on a proactive role in their own care as they would be able to make suggestions, share their preferences and values, and voice concerns (Smith, 2020).Professional Leadership Essay.

2.Understanding of Evidence-Based Practice

EBP offers unique advantages to nursing practice. With the application of EBP in nursing practice, the patient care outcomes would improve. This would help with decreasing the demand for health care resources so that less money is spent on nursing care and more resources can be allocated to other concerns. At its core, EBP has three components that help to improve care outcomes. Firstly, patient values and preferences. Secondly, internal evidence that includes clinical expertise, outcome management initiatives and quality improvement projects conducted by an organization. Thirdly, external evidence that includes clinical practice guidelines, best practice, randomized control trails and systematic reviews.Professional Leadership Essay. There is a general understand that it is not enough to base practice on a single piece of evidence, and that including more pieces of evidence is important. Critically analyzing the available evidence, putting the findings of the evidence in the context of the problem, and adding judgements and perspectives of stakeholders (such as patients and clinicians) is imperative for true EBP. The available evidence acts as a rich resource that offers nurses a chance to meaningfully connect their competencies with clinical need for microsystem changes and best practices. EBP remains central to the discipline-specific and interdisciplinary changes that are making new skills and ideas commonplace, and that are necessary to achieving efficient, safe and effective nursing care. This implies that achieving excellence in EBP is only possible if current evidence is availed along with supporting policies for making practice changes. Overall, it is clear that EBP focuses on using evidence to guide clinical management decisions and ensuring that health care is transformed from a systems perspective while centering on EBP for patient safety, patient engagement and clinical effectiveness (Smith, 2020).Professional Leadership Essay.

Part D. Applied Leadership

1.Professional Definition of Applied Leadership

The program helped in developing a new and innovative understanding of applied leadership in nursing. It identified leadership as one of the more important factors for inspiring and motivating nurses to practice at the top level of their licensure. In this case, a nurse leader is an individual who is interest in excelling in the nursing career path with a focus on representing the interests of the nursing profession while refining professional skills to differentiate them from others and to advance to the next level in the profession. For that matter, nurse leadership is all about developing successful teams that includes qualities such as supportive, inspiration and encouraging. Professional Leadership Essay.At the core of this awareness is the understanding that successful nursing leadership must be equipped to evolve even as the nursing industry experiences ongoing shifts and changes. With the right leadership, nursing is able to deliver improved staff retention, reduced medical errors, and improve patient outcomes, all benefiting the health care industry as a whole. As nurses become increasingly aware of the correlation between stronger achievements in patient safety and care quality, and stronger care teams, the develop the understanding that incorporating steps for long-term, strategic success in professional practice is important. In any given encounter, nurse leaders solve problems and issues related to patient safety and bedside care, and being able to balance the myriad of daily challenges and perform well under pressure is no small endeavor. Overall, the program helped with developing the understanding that good nurse leadership incorporates a health balance of managing processes and people to maintain physical presence to show appreciation and support, and promote continued success in improving care outcomes (DeNisco& Barker, 2016).Professional Leadership Essay.

2. Learning Leadership Experience

The program made it clear that health care is a ‘team sport’, especially in medical facilities. That is because the care delivery experience features a cadre of health professions who work together to delivery stellar patient experience and quality care. However, as health care delivery becomes more specialized, the health care teams become more crowded and ends up making it difficult to delivery collaborative care.Professional Leadership Essay. Leadership intervenes to improve team activity and collaboration by ensuring that multiple medical personnel from different professional background work together patients, communities, carers and families to deliver the highest quality of care. In linking leadership to collaboration, the focus is on enhancing the relationship between the team members and leaders while allowing for the ideas and workflows to be aligned without confusion. This is especially important for today’s health care environment that adopts cross-functional teams to general more diverse ideas. This creates a concern since the authority of nurse leaders would only be limited to just their field of practice, this leading to the need for shared knowledge and professional collaboration. In details, professional collaboration helps to create a culture that yields shared aspirations, mutual respect and trust in which the nurse leader is able to direct team members to fulfil mutual goals (Finkelman, 2019).Professional Leadership Essay.

Part E. Community and Population Health

1.Professional Definition of Community and Population Health

The program helps in developing a definition of community and population health as they relate to professional nursing roles and values. It presents a distinction between community and population health, noting that although they are similar, they are distinct approaches to promoting health through using prevention strategies and upstream practices. Professional Leadership Essay.Prior to attending the program, there was some conceptual confusion in the means by which both community and population health and their respective strategies are used in areas of research, public health and patient care. On one hand, community health is generally rooted in the collective efforts of organizations and individuals working in concert to promote health within a culturally or geographically defined patient group. Initiatives in this area function as multi-disciplinary and multi-sector collaborative enterprises that apply evidence-based culturally appropriate strategies to work with and engage communities. Success and progress in community health originates from the members of the community who are collectively empowered to address self-identified vulnerabilities that could include public safety, employment and education (Truglio-Londrigan&Lewenson, 2018). Professional Leadership Essay.On the other hand, population health is general rooted in interventions targeted at groups of patients who are defined by an attribution. It focuses on tracing and measuring the health status indicators of the attribution to provide insight and direction on how to prevent onset and development of the targeted health condition. Also, population health includes health determinants that play an influential role in the current health status and history, to include individual behavior, genetics and health care access. Although the two (community and population health) are distinctive, they have areas of overlap. They have the same key descriptors, target populations, interventions utilized, and measurement (Truglio-Londrigan&Lewenson, 2018).Professional Leadership Essay.

2. Community and Population Health Task

The community and population health tasks explored in the program were important in making six important determinations. Firstly, nurses are engaged in community and population health to prevent disease, prolong life and promote health through coordinating and directing the informed choices and organized efforts of individuals, private and public communities, organizations and society. Secondly, all efforts are directed at delivering lifesaving message to the at-risk populations.Professional Leadership Essay. That is because nurses provide the population with critical understanding of the socioeconomic and cultural determiners that affect health care. Thirdly, nurses are involved in care coordination as they work with communities, groups and individual to arrange resources that the population needs to ensure successful treatment. Each of the services offered by nurses must complement each other in a manner that promotes positive care outcomes, increases patient safety, and decreases service costs. Fourthly, nurses act as informaticist specialists who combine electronic information management and communications expertise to organize and disseminate information in a way that provides value.Professional Leadership Essay. Fifthly, nurses act as community-based facilitates who support the community members and medical personnel to transition to new practices. The nurse acts as a link between medical practice and theory by ensuring that the policy and procedural changes are properly adopted and based on the latest empirical health data. Finally, nurses act as primary care partners who address the existing shortage of medical personnel to address the needs of growing populations. As caseloads increase, community and population health efforts present new opportunities for transitioning to streamlined operations and new practice models. Nurses intervene to reorganize health care services delivery to improve outcomes and experiences while reducing expenses (Black, 2016).Professional Leadership Essay.

3.American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Certificate

The AMNH Certificate was issued to certify the successful completion of a course on genetics, genomics, genethics for nursing (see Appendix II). The certificate and the process of achieving it serves four main functions. Firstly, it helps to indicate training in aspects of nursing while acting as a guide to effectively utilize the course content into the work environment.Professional Leadership Essay. This assures employers about the personal capabilities to successfully complete the related tasks. Secondly, it helps to include practical skills that are useful for the workplace. The prior knowledge from attending and completing the course ensures the ability to perform the related tasks much more efficiently and confidently in the workplace. Thirdly, the course of job focused and provides a wide range of skills to help with performing well when dealing with complex tasks. It enhances the confidence level even for subjects that are not directly related to the course. Finally, the course provides in-depth knowledge of the underlying technologies that are needed to efficiently perform workplace tasks (Boykin &Schoenhofer, 2015).Professional Leadership Essay.