Quality care is incomplete without earning a patient’s trust and confidence in healthcare facilities. Nurses contribute beyond mere responsibilities to ensure patients are satisfied by portraying healthcare facilities and advocating for patients simultaneously.
A nurse’s impressions go beyond the healthcare industry and into the patients’ lives, and while doing so, they encounter several challenging situations where decision-making is difficult but equally rewarding.
Thus, leadership is an inseparable quality from a nurses’ personality, even during the initial stages of their career. They cannot sustain and carry out their responsibilities without leadership qualities while serving at the forefront of the healthcare industry.
Given opportunities, their contributions can offer helpful insights and direct the healthcare industry towards betterment. It means future demands and challenges further necessitate harnessing leadership skills in aspiring young nurses.
Otherwise, they cannot meet the requirements of the evolving field. This is one of the many reasons why motivating young nurses and facilitating them to attain such skills is crucial for the success of the healthcare industry.
One of the most effective ways is educational improvements and offering development opportunities. The following sections elaborate more on inspiring young nurses to become tomorrow’s leaders.
- Make innovations in curriculum design
Nurses who contribute as helpers and facilitators are among the most dominant characters in the healthcare sector. Since the roles are diverse, it can be challenging to contribute without needed skills.
To overcome this hurdle, they need changes in the curriculum and advanced nursing education. The existing curriculum needs improvement starting from the undergraduate level studies, which should focus on teamwork.
At present, the curriculum weighs the importance of acquiring fundamental medical skills more than interpersonal skills and problem-solving, except for terminal degrees, such as the online dnp program, where nurses learn the efficacy of other skills.
In essence, it takes ages for aspiring nurses to learn about working independently and taking on leadership roles – a prime reason why the nursing curriculum should adopt as per the emerging challenges.
For instance, a medical degree should also polish individuals’ critical thinking abilities, instill technical skills and provide learners with evidence-based training at the early stages of their careers.
That is how tomorrow’s young nurses can consider strategically solving emerging problems surrounding patients.
- Boost administrative support
The nursing staff is one of the major fragments of the healthcare team, which highlights how much they contribute to the industry. Yet, they don’t enjoy administrative support as much as healthcare specialists do.
For instance, hospitals don’t compromise on experts’ schedules and engage nurses in lengthy shifts. As a result, nurses cannot escape complying with overwork, even outside official work hours.
Nurses also stand at the frontline and deal with the penalties whenever patients complain of clinical negligence and mismanagement. Even more, they follow hierarchical distinctions and remain submissive in situations when they have to take a stand for the healthcare institution.
In the end, this careless, authoritative administration and workplace undermine nurses’ confidence and refuse to recognize their contributions to the industry as a whole.
On the other hand, administrative support and an encouraging work environment can significantly boost nurses’ confidence. As such, words of encouragement can alleviate their insecurities. With proper assistance and encouragement from the management, nurses can tackle challenges at the forefront rather than avoid them.
Thus the administration should look after nurses and attend to their issues. They should create flexibilities in work policies and minimize limitations to their growth.
- Create opportunities for nurses’ professional development
Every stage of the professional journey presents new challenges where existing capabilities fall short. It is why professional development is as essential as the journey itself.
This is especially true for young learners who need constant guidance, mentorship, and development training to keep going. However, such facilities are rare for individuals who have just started their careers.
Similarly, hospitals’ work policies, environment, and strict administration can further complicate their journey. In such cases, young nurses find it challenging to confront and pursue leadership duties.
In contrast, they ponder over their insecurities; what if initiatives lead to mishaps and threaten their position or patients?
In such cases, hospitals can facilitate nurses in gaining more confidence. They can arrange training workshops and educate new nurses regarding work challenges through short courses on leadership.
Additionally, healthcare experts can also provide coaching to nurses while they take rounds and attend to patients. Such interactions will also foster team building and encourage nurses to input their knowledge and expertise. Collectively, experts and nurses can better facilitate patients and improve caregiving standards.
- Acknowledge nurses’ efforts in the healthcare industry
Most of the time, the contributions of nurses aren’t acknowledged or appreciated by their peers, no matter how long and hard they serve. However, the future of the healthcare industry cannot function like that anymore. It is because future challenges in healthcare may fail the existing structure and working attitude. Thus the healthcare industry must prepare its workforce accordingly.
In that capacity, acknowledgment can inspire nurses to refine their skills and lead the way during professional challenges. It is why healthcare facilities should monitor nurses’ contributions and facilitate their growth.
- Engage nurses in futuristic workplace policies
Generally, the nursing staff’s focus area revolves around patients. Their input to policymaking is also passive as they have to bear with the policy, regardless of its outcomes.
However, if the healthcare industry allows the nursing staff to contribute to policymaking, the workplace could become more productive. It will also harvest a positive effect on the patients’ health care.
More than that, the future of the healthcare industry depends upon the sustainability of the workplaces where nurses’ contribution is vital because the healthcare future envisions higher demand and inflow of nurses.
If the workplace and healthcare framework does not implement the expectations of its workers, it cannot function effectively. Even at present, nurses make up over 30% of the health care workforce in the United States alone. Given such a percentage, their contribution to futuristic health care policies is inevitable.
In addition, the healthcare future anticipates nurses in several dynamic roles, from community involvement to healthcare innovations. It would only be possible if the healthcare framework prepares and directs nurses to assume challenging responsibilities beyond caregiving.
Conclusion
Over time, the nursing field has gained a broader scope to foster the health care industry. By doing so, confronting challenges is not new to nurses. However, they need more focus and career-building opportunities to groom their leadership skills.
