This paper reflects on a nursing leadership and management shadowing experience with a nurse manager of a Cardiac Progressive Unit. The student observes the manager's daily responsibilities, credentials, and transformational leadership style, noting how individualized attention, empathetic communication, and active listening shape the unit's culture. The paper examines a real conflict involving medication errors and how the nurse manager used compromise as a resolution strategy consistent with transformational leadership principles. It also compares the nurse manager's approach to the student's own democratic leadership style and discusses the professional development steps needed to pursue a nurse manager role.
One of the most important elements in developing necessary skills and competencies in the nursing field is shadowing a practitioner in a healthcare setting. The shadowing experience helps students observe how a nurse practitioner applies nursing concepts in daily activities focused on delivering high-quality patient care. As a nursing leadership and management student, my shadowing experience involved observing a nurse manager of a Cardiac Progressive Unit. This paper discusses that shadowing experience, focusing on identifying the leadership styles she used to accomplish daily activities and enhance patient care. The discussion includes a review of the nurse manager's position, credentials, and leadership style, an explanation of how she handled a conflict using her leadership approach, a reflection on how the experience changed my impression of the nurse manager role, and an assessment of how my own leadership style would function in a similar organization.
During this course on nursing leadership and management, I shadowed the nurse manager of a Cardiac Progressive Unit at a healthcare organization. She has worked as a nurse on the unit for a decade and became its nurse manager three years ago. Prior to taking on that role, she worked in supervisory positions within the unit, which involved monitoring whether nurses were meeting their daily goals and identifying areas for improvement. The other nurses in the unit recognize her as a friend and mentor whose primary motivation is to enhance the quality of patient care. She has also received recognition from the organization's top leadership for her commitment to excellent patient care services.
The shadowing experience involved arriving at the healthcare organization at 7:00 a.m. and meeting with the nurse manager before she began her daily activities. Given the demanding nature of her role, shadowing took place once a week for at least five hours per session. Each day, she would begin by meeting with her colleagues for approximately 30 minutes to set goals and identify strategies for achieving them. Throughout the day, she regularly spoke with her staff and also took time to sit with patients in the unit. She ensured that all nurses performed their assigned responsibilities and reminded them of their roles and the specific goals for that day. Her regular conversations with patients were aimed at gathering feedback about the care they received and identifying opportunities for improving service delivery.
Based on my observations, she was an active listener and an empathetic communicator, particularly when spending time with patients. Through these interactions, she often learned things about patients that they had not shared with other nurses or healthcare professionals. She also focused on creating a healthcare environment characterized by strong physician-nurse collaboration, nurse-nurse collaboration, and nurse-leader collaboration. This teamwork approach enhanced the quality of patient care, since physicians received complete and timely information from nurses about patient concerns. At the end of each nursing shift, she would sit down with the nurses to review the day's activities and assess the effectiveness of care delivery. These reviews helped identify areas for improvement and gave nurses an opportunity to share their experiences in order to enhance the overall effectiveness of the unit.
The nurse manager I observed holds a Master of Science in Nursing Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Management. She has more than ten years of clinical experience and has worked in middle management positions at different nursing facilities. Prior to being appointed nurse manager of the Cardiac Progressive Unit, she served as a nurse supervisor in the same unit for more than three years.
Her leadership style can be described as transformational leadership, which she utilized to ensure that the nursing staff performed their duties as expected and met the unit's desired goals. According to Perez (2014), transformational leadership involves motivating subordinates through appeals to higher moral values and ideals. Her use of this style was evident in the individualized attention she gave staff members when discussing their goals and responsibilities. It was also visible in her clear commitment to the organization's vision and mission regarding excellent patient care and improved outcomes. The major characteristics of her transformational approach included individualized consideration and attention, idealized influence, and motivation.
Her empathetic communication and active listening further reflected transformational leadership principles by creating a highly motivating healthcare environment. She focused on building genuine relationships with both staff and patients while inspiring team members to work toward the unit's established goals and objectives. She consistently demonstrated confidence, respect, and loyalty, all of which inspired her subordinates to invest in enhancing the quality of patient care and contributing to the fulfillment of the organization's mission.
The nurse manager applied her transformational leadership style not only to motivate her staff but also to resolve conflict. One example involved a rise in medication errors within the unit. She had received several complaints and reports from patients regarding errors in medication administration by some of the nursing staff. The nurses, however, denied making mistakes and were confused by the escalating situation. Because the conflict carried significant potential consequences for the unit's ability to meet patient needs, she chose compromise as her conflict management strategy.
She called a meeting with all of the junior nurses and communicated the increased incidence of medication errors. Importantly, she did not single out or accuse specific nurses; instead, she framed the issue as a shared concern for the entire nursing staff. She then invited the nursing team to suggest what could be done to ensure safe medication administration going forward.
"Medication error conflict handled through compromise"
"Positive assessment with one noted limitation"
"Democratic style compared to transformational; development goals"
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.