Write a reflection of 750-1,000 words in which you identify your strengths and weaknesses
related to the four content areas below:
1.Personal and professional accountability
2.Career planning
3.Personal journey disciplines
4.Reflective practice reference behaviors/tenets
Discuss how you will use your current leadership skill set to advocate for change in your
workplace.
Identify one personal goal for your leadership growth and discuss your implementation
plan to achieve that goal.
Combining Nurse Leader with Advocacy
Introduction
The Nurse Manager Skills inventory helps one realize their strengths and weaknesses in
the nursing profession in order to maximize on their effectiveness as leaders. It is important for
nurses to take the test from time to time so as to realize their potential. Nurses are often expected
to offer servant leadership while at work. Every patient desires a mentor, a friend and a
professional treating them as they continue in their recovery journey (Baxter & Warshawsky,
2014). Nurses offer these services in an all-inclusive package and often stretch beyond the limits
of the care-giver assignment they are tasked with. I took the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory test
and realized several aspects of my profession that I was not aware of from the onset of my
career.
Personal and Professional Accountability
COMBINING NURSE LEADER WITH ADVOCACY 2
I ranked fairly average on personal and professional accountability. With regards to
personal accountability, the issues of personal life and life beyond work were evaluated. These
tore right at the very center of my values. I realized that a nurse is supposed to be a leader and
worker at the same time. This is due to the numerous decisions we have to make in our line of
work every day. It is important to realize a perspective that guides one’s life even when they are
not working. Professional conduct must thus be upheld at all time. The desire to do right must
also not impede on professional judgment. I had some of these aspects within my personality but
some; I did not.
Career Planning
I ranked very low with regard to career planning. The goals for my career, my ambitions
for growth and the path I would take to get there were not very clear. It got me thinking that I
should do more to support my career ambitions and future plans. Of more importance to me is
the ability to guarantee that I am able to foresee growth not only in the working environment but
in myself as well. It is very critical to know this since as a nurse, there is a lot one can do and
that needs to be done. However, a combination of the right skill set and mentorship as well as the
right environment to grow one’s career is important (Baxter & Warshawsky, 2014).
Nevertheless, as a dependable entity among society, one has to consider the needs of the society
as well.
Personal Journey Disciplines
Over the course of my career, I have grown fond of my patients and realized that to me
they were like family. I thus have never considered my family more important than this work and
they have had to understand my professional ethics. I have learnt to talk to patients better and
offer consolation where necessary and truth where inevitable. All in all; I have grown to become
COMBINING NURSE LEADER WITH ADVOCACY 3
a professionally ethical care giver. I still continue to learn from my peers and superiors, but the
strength that keeps me going is the passion for my assignments.
Reflective Practice Reference Behaviors/Tenets
Based on past experiences, I have been able to grow my professional discretion and
opinion on matters. Aspects of treatment that were not known to me have often been realized
right at the center of a treatment trial, vaccination, or surgical procedure. Past practice work from
published nurses has also been of guide to me over the years. It is often difficult to get the
exposure one needs but combining experience from circumstances we go through at work as well
as the published work from reputable and peer reviewed sources makes nursing more accurate
and professional (Baxter & Warshawsky, 2014). I have been a good student at reflective practice
and indeed continue to do so to date.
Applying My Leadership Skills at the Workplace
The working environment I am in requires more of a servant leadership approach. There
is need for a leader to exercise a lot of patience and take into consideration the needs, aspirations,
and feelings of the staff. I believe that as a leader, the hospital requires a proper understanding of
the welfare of all nurses. We need to always consider the nurse (employee) as the most critical
resource in the institution. For this reason; we have to always listen to their problems and
counsel them from time to time. I also would encourage nurses to pursue learning as a way to
improve the practice. This would be done by enrolling into more classes and conducting
periodical research on epistemology.
For my leadership growth, I intend to be time conscious by respecting deadlines and
doing the right thing at the right time. Lately, I have encountered challenges of rushing to meet
deadlines. This makes my work stressful since I end up completing projects not with the same
COMBINING NURSE LEADER WITH ADVOCACY 4
satisfaction as I had intended. For implementation, I plan to develop a time table outlining my
daily schedule. I will endeavor to follow the timetable to the latter so that I can be reputable
leader that is an example to others.
Conclusion
As a leader, I hope to become more in tune with the latest technologies in the medical
field. I seek to be more aware of new infections and spiraling health threats within my
community and the country at large. I also seek to be more informed on what research is being
done to realize an end to the incurable diseases afflicting the world. I will thus be a research-
centric leader who always seeks to find a breakthrough in treatment methods and techniques. I
believe that by leading nurses in research, we can share a global platform with every nurse
especially in the developing world to assist them deal with significant health threats in their
communities.
COMBINING NURSE LEADER WITH ADVOCACY 5
Reference
Baxter, C., & Warshawsky, N. (2014). Exploring the Acquisition of Nurse Manager
Competence. Nurse Leader, 1246, 59-51, 59.