Kelli Rhoades

 

   

2a. Develop a personal philosophy as a nurse educator/executive.

Quality and safety initiatives depend on nurse executives to lead their organization and help focus on system-wide issues. Focusing on the "bigger picture" has always been my personal philosophy. My approach to monitoring compliance in a multilayered system with many stakeholders, is to use a systems approach.

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    2b. Develop the capacity for recognizing and reflecting on problems that fall outside current knowledge.

I reflected on nursing issues that I have not dealt with and opened my mind to think outside my current scope of practice. Being a community health nurse, I have not worked in a hospital in over ten years. I was tasked with developing a staffing and budget procedure, which was difficult for me, but I enjoyed learning what duties hospital nurse managers face.

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    2c. Serve in the role of educator/executive and role model when working with students, staff, peers, and other

         constituencies.

I visualized myself working as a nurse executive and developed a staffing policy and a unique Time-Off Request Form to practice staffing ratios based on learning and nursing experience, although I have not worked in a hospital in over a decade.

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    2d. Promote critical thinking in those that they educate and serve.

I learned having emotional intelligence and emotional competence is imperative to be a great leader. I discuss the skills needed to be a successful nurse executive. My group completed critical appraisals of the research articles we reviewed for our evidence-based project using critical thinking.

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    2e. Engage in professional development as a nurse educator/executive.

My executive summary discusses magnet status and recommendations for nurse executives, including ongoing professional development, to lead their organizations into obtaining or sustaining this status and why it is important. I explain what kind of leader I would be in a mock interview and how I intend to address complex issues.

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    2f.  Foster professional role development through leadership, collaborative skills, and relationship development

          with peers, students/personnel, clients,colleagues, and members of the interprofessional team.

My executive summary discusses how magnet status fosters professional development through leadership and interprofessional teamwork to provide excellent patient care and positive work environment. Working with a group with very different nursing backgrounds and experience on an evidence-based project, broadened my collaborative skills and professional development. Our group's search plan method allowed me to learn proper research techniques while building relationships with my peers.

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    2g. Model self-reflection and lifelong learning.

Moving forward as a nurse executive, I have learned to shift from a transactional leader who rewards employees with incentives, to a transformational leader who encourages employees while building morale and modeling behavior. One of the most important things I learned throughout my practicum is to value collaboration and diversity of the leadership team. Different disciplines have unique perspectives and collaborating with a multidisciplinary team is much more successful than independently.

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    2h. Effectively participate in curriculum/program design and evaluation of outcomes.

I learned how to practically, effectively, and ethically develop and implement a policy based on clinical research. I learned how healthcare is similar to social services programs, as they are both governed by federal laws and similar funding, and funds are provided when outcomes are met and taken away when they are not.

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