Free Essay Providing a Leadership Style Reflection

Effective care requires good leaders who cannot only inspire their subjects but also change their working environment. As a leader, I employ a transformation leadership style. I like this leadership style because it involves inspiring others to achieve remarkable results. I believe that as nurses, we are given the authority to make decisions that are in the best interest of the patients. Asthma is one of the prevalent chronic illnesses among the young generation, which leads to an increased cause of pediatric hospitalizations in modern society (Silber et al., 2016; Horak et al., 2016). Based on Gibbs' reflective model, I am going to reflect upon an event, admission of a 17-year old patient with a diagnosis of exacerbation of asthma, which occurred while I was a duty.

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Description

When I arrived at the hospital that morning, I was asked by the nurse at the front desk if I would attend to a 17-year old girl who was suffering from an exacerbation of asthma, which can result in death. I agreed and she let her into my office. I asked her when she was diagnosed with the exacerbation of asthma. She had come to update her inhaler, albuterol, and medications that helped her reduce inflammation. After she told me everything that I required, I checked the prescription from her file with the practice nurse. When she came last, I was not the one on duty; my colleague who is also my supervisor made the diagnosis and prescription. This time, it was easy because I just had to follow the prescription and administer. After checking the prescription and the ampoule, I drew up the medication as recommended from her file and placed it in the box as well as attached the needle. Upon completion of the procedure, I proceeded to administer the medication. After which, I recorded the procedure in the patient's notes. After she went, my supervisor came to the treatment room and I informed him of the procedure. After going through the notes, he told me that I had done everything right. One quality that led me to undertake this procedure was my visionary quality. As a nurse, I believe that being visionary helps one become the best practitioner because there is nothing that one can fear. Further, leading by example is another quality that I think helped me. The nurse told me that I should have waited for the doctor who diagnosed the patient earlier. But, I refused because I know that I have gone through the training that has equipped me to be a practitioner. As I treated the girl, I had a positive outlook or "can do" attitude that the whole process would go well.

Thoughts and Feelings

When the nurse asked me whether I could attend to the patient who required immediate replacement of inhaler and medication, I felt very anxious because it had been almost eight months since administered to an asthma patient. But, with the help of the previous prescription and diagnosis notes as well as the patient's response, I was relieved.

Evaluation

Generally, I think that the clinical procedure went well as I envisioned. As Fuhlbrigge et al. (2013) explain the aim of asthma treatment is to minimize the recurrent exacerbations. Suruki et al. (2017) further explain that asthma exacerbations are most frequent in patients with severe disease. King (2018) also explains how asthma can be serious if left unattended. After following the instructions from my supervisor as well as what I learned while in college, I performed the procedure excellently and correctly. As Tafvelin (2013) explains, social service organizations have significantly changed in the past recent decades in an effort to enhance and improve service effectiveness. Therefore, as Odumeru and Ogbonna (2013) explain, leadership is perhaps the most critical aspect of management. During my experience, what I felt bad about the experience was lack of communication. The whole time when I was administering to the patient, I did not talk. I was more focused on needle not to cause her pain.

Analysis

I chose to administer the Epinephrine not only because it was instructed on the patient's notes but because it is one of the most effective pharmacologic management agents of exacerbations of asthma (Morris, 2018). Before I administered the medication, I asked the parent who brought the patient for her consent to go ahead with treatment since my supervisor was not available at the moment as this is part of the practice guideline in nursing. As Ortega et al. (2017) explain, a patient with asthma exacerbation should be injected with Epinephrine 0.01 mL/kg in the subcutaneous. I asked the patient if she could lie down, but she replied that she would rather sit. Seeking consent from the patient and her mother was one of the situations I used the patient service-user focus approach. Before administering the medication, I first assessed the injection site to ensure that it was the right place and also there was no infection. As Madick (2016) explains, administering the right medication in the right manner reduces the risks. After administering the medication, I ensured that I recorded the procedure and everything that I undertook.

Conclusion

Based on the Gibbs model aspects of reflection, I have thoroughly analyzed the event and explored my feelings. Through this analysis, I have realized that despite that all practitioners come out of college prepared to undertake their duties, not all of them have the courage to make independent decisions. From the supervisor's comment, I realized the importance of empowering others and recognizing as well as rewarding good care.

Action Plan

From this experience, it is no doubt that I will be administering to more patients with exacerbations of asthma for a long period as I advance in my career. From the evidence that I did it right, I do not think that I will be changing my procedure. However, I will enhance my communication throughout the treatment period because it improves the patient-doctor relationship (Morgan Griffin, 2018). From this experience, I have realized that learning is a continuous process. From that moment I learned a new quality that I never knew that I had; being proactive and problem solving. Instead of waiting for the doctor to come in and the patient was in pain, I decided to take responsibility and help. However, of all the above qualities, I did not use "challenging poor standards" because it was not applicable in my situation.

References

Fuhlbrigge, A., Peden, D., Apter, A.J., Boushey, H.A., Camargo Jr, C.A., Gern, J., Heymann, P.W., Martinez, F.D., Mauger, D., Teague, W.G. and Blaisdell, C., 2012. Asthma outcomes: exacerbations. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 129(3), pp.S34-S48.

Griffin, M. R., 2018. Treating Asthma: Partnering with your doctor. WebMD. Available at: https://www.webmd.com/asthma/features/treating-asthma-doctor#1Horak, F., Doberer, D., Eber, E., Horak, E., Pohl, W., Riedler, J., Szepfalusi, Z., Wantke, F., Zacharasiewicz, A. and Studnicka, M., 2016. Diagnosis and management of asthma-Statement on the 2015 GINA Guidelines. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, 128(15-16), pp.541-554.

King, A., 2018. Asthma-A Personal Reflection. WKing. Available at: https://www.wkinghealth.com/contents/articles/asthma

Madick, K., 2016, April 20. Care of Patients with Asthma. CEUFast. Available at. https://ceufast.com/course/care-for-the-patient-with-asthma

Morris, J, M., 2018, October 24. Asthma Treatment & Management. MedScape. Available at: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/296301-treatment

Odumeru, J.A. and Ogbonna, I.G., 2013. Transformational vs. transactional leadership theories: Evidence in literature. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(2), p.355.

Ortega, E. V. and Pennington, J. E., 2017, March. Treatment of Acute Asthma Exacerbations. MSD Manual. Available at: https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/pulmonary-disorders/asthma-and-related-disorders/treatment-of-acute-asthma-exacerbations#v31727279

Silber, J.H., Rosenbaum, P.R., Wang, W., Ludwig, J.M., Calhoun, S., Guevara, J.P., Zorc, J.J., Zeigler, A. and Even-Shoshan, O., 2016. Auditing practice style variation in pediatric inpatient asthma care. JAMA pediatrics, 170(9), pp.878-886.

Suruki, R.Y., Daugherty, J.B., Boudiaf, N. and Albers, F.C., 2017. The frequency of asthma exacerbations and healthcare utilization in patients with asthma from the UK and USA. BMC pulmonary medicine, 17(1), p.74.

Tafvelin, S., 2013. The transformational leadership process: Antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes in the social services (Doctoral dissertation, Umea universitet).