My leadership experience was completed through my course NURS 480W: Nursing in the Health care System: Leadership. This course is a writing intensive course that utilizes theoretical and applied concepts of nursing leadership within the health care environment. Additionally, this course provides knowledge about leadership issues and responsibilities of nurses. This provided emphasis on the ideas of self-care, making a change, inspiring others, and striving to improve yourself. I was provided with numerous tools to prepare me for a leadership role within my nursing career.
Skills used in this experience:
- Communicate verbally
- Make decisions and problem solve
- Work in a team structure
Rivera_-leadership-journal
Above are two assignments completed in this course. The first assignment was a discussion board post that I wrote to describe a leadership role I observed in one of my clinical rotations. I had to summarize the situation where I observed the leadership role. I had to discuss whether this was someone in a management role or someone not in a management role. Next, I had to write which leadership style and strategies that were exhibited in this situation. Additionally, the leadership characteristics had to be discussed. The second assignment was a journal assignment that gave me the opportunity to reflect on the achievements that I have made in order to achieve my goal of becoming a nurse. My teacher informed us that this journaling assignment was meant to allow us to look at the big picture rather than just focusing on achieving something. This assignment fullfilled the discussion about self-care. We are taught that before we can take care of someone else we first need to take care of ourselves. To perform self-care, we need to move, reflect, appreciate, and let go.
Communication skills was further developed in this course. This course taught me how to talk with other individuals, develop partnerships, and be an effective leader. In order to lead, you must be able to express yourself in an effective way. This experience will help me with my future goal of becoming a nurse because nurses are leaders. Nurse encourage their patients to be healthier and inspire them to make changes in their lives. This class provided me with the tools to become an effective and successful leader as well as tools to use to maintain self-care.