TITLE OF THE ASSIGNMENT- LEADERSHIP FOR BEGINNING PRACTICE

Introduction

The compassionate healthcare services are embedded with the nursing profession that has provided us with magnanimous nursing leaders. Nursing history, with the emergence of Florence Nightingale employing the transformational leadership in this profession, has ushered her career to a status of demigod among the Crimean public and beyond the boundaries. The nurses have been trained since then to be the frontline warriors, especially in the situation of war, natural disasters, or pandemic. The evidence of NMBA nurses and the NHS is highly commendable in treating and healing the patients.

The essay aims to emphasize on one of such commendable leaders through the history of nursing with a great track record of her service and contribution to the profession. The nursing leader selected in this essay recognizes Hellene Donnelly as one of the valiant leader (Mannion et al. 2018). She has been incredibly honoured instead of being castigated when she reported against her own hospice at Mid Staffordshire Hospital. The discussion of this essay will focus on her contributions towards the profession that has enlightened and will continue in motivating the practising nurses. 

Biographical outline of the nursing leader

The recipient of Order of British Empire (OBE) was conferred to the whistleblowing nurse Helene Donnelly in the year 2014 exposing the malpractice of the Stafford Hospital. She was employed in the Department of Accident and Emergency. She is promoted to the position of senior advisor to the Department of Health in the NHS (Stein, 2019). She is a notable speaker and Trust Ambassador for Cultural Change and Freedom to Speak Up Guardian representing Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT). 

Donnelly is recognized as Culture Change Champion who is instrumental in acting as the first person to motivate her colleagues and peers to raise concern on the safety of patients in a hospital setting and seek advice on issues like unsafe care for the patients, being bullied in the workplace environment or any issue that creates question on the integrity of the nursing fraternity all over the world (Midlands Partnership, 2018). The staff and nurses are provided adequate training under her supervision known as ESR (Essential Staff Training) to raise the concerns on risk, malpractices, and other wrongdoing observed in the hospital setting. 

Evaluating and describing an attribute and a value-based evidence-based practice of the nurse leader with a relevant example.

 The high standard of professionalism is one of the prioritized attributes of the nursing profession. The nurses are expected of delivering their duties and responsibilities with utmost care and concern while attending the sick patients, administer prescribed medication at the right time and with the right dosage, maintaining the health records of the patients and specifically looking after the safety and promoting the health of the patients. The value-based practice reflects the leadership attribute of the nurses, which is also one of the criteria to achieve the best level of clinical practice.  

The scenario of malpractice in the hospital setting faced by the nurse Hellene Donnelly invoked her true senses which made her resort to whistleblowing on the hospital management. The staffs were severely short to manage the care and treatment of patients (Power et al. 2016). The appalling situation of the hospital shook the integrity of Donnelly who found patients were writhing in pain being in the soiled beds and without any painkillers, the unresponsiveness of nursing staff made the patients drink water from flower vases, and 400 deaths have been witnessed by her during the tenure of three years of her service.  

 The resolution taken by her was to advocate on the patients' safety by being a whistleblower on the ill practices of the NHS Trust. She started to raise her voice against the malpractices of the nursing system while motivating others to do the same. She exhibits the attribute of higher professionalism that is shown through her evidence-based practice in the hospital (Raising Concerns, 2013). The maintenance of the relationship with people in nursing care requires certain protocols to adhere to. The nursing leader has been instrumental in addressing those protocols which comprise of sharing information of consultation of the patients, informed consent of the patient on treatment and therapy, advocating access to improved health care and providing sufficient training and knowledge to the practitioner nurses to enhance the patient outcome.

Evaluation of two significant contributions of the nursing leader in this profession

The primary and significant contribution of the recent times witnessed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council has been the updated guidance on Raising Concerns by the staff nurses of NHS and other nursing boards supported by Helene Donnelly. The nursing leader also contributed to being the ambassador of Cultural Change in the healthcare sector, promoting the importance of patients’ safety and right to freedom of speech and speaking up against any malpractices of the system. 

The contribution of the nursing leader is iterated in the Code of Professional Conduct of the nurses as mentioned in the Nursing and Midwifery Board Aphra through safe practices of the nurses and in a competent manner (Guidelines, 2018). The nurses are involved in recording the vitals of the patient while maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of the information collected. The contribution of the nursing leader Donnelly is also included in the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA) where the nurses are provided with guidelines on mandatory notifications on the conduct and practices of the nurses in a healthcare setup. 

The cultural changes addressed by the nursing leader establish the cultural safety and care for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the patients. The practice of cultural safety in the workplace environment also emphasizes the empowerment of decision-making by the patients in her treatment and therapy (De Guio, 2016). The code of conduct as applied by the nurses reflects the contribution of the nursing leader in their practice which implements the principle of creating a culturally safe place for the nursing practitioners sans the environment of bullying or harassment by the nurse managers or leaders. 

Reflection from the research and implementation of the knowledge in professional-practice

 The professional practice, according to the protocol of Nursing and Midwifery Board Aphra, needs to be competent to address the issues of healthcare and the patients. My professional identity while analyzing the information of the nursing leader gathered the concept of being competent in the practice of nursing. As mentioned in her journal "Managers must listen to nurses in NHS crisis" Hellene Donnelly had to gather the courage to inform about the ill practices, shortage of staff, and rudeness revealed by the nursing manager in her hospital (BBC, 2019) The staffs were inadequately trained with little evidence-based knowledge during her practice. 

In Australia, the federal government has addressed the issue of nursing training and education through Health Practitioner Regulation National Law which laid the impetus on the nurse practitioners (NP) due to the shortage of doctors especially in the remote comers of the country (Harrold, 2017). The attribute of being competent through achieving higher education as endorsed by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, empowers the nurses to be competent enough through Masters’ Degree programs to become eligible for being registered nurses. This attribute in nursing helps to decipher the cases and support the doctors to achieve the best of health outcomes of the patients (Parker & Hill, 2017). As described by Baillie (2017), the scope of enhancing my knowledge based on the 6C's comprise of competence, care, compassion, communication courage and commitment has built my strength to understand the caring concept embedded with this profession.

I have gained knowledge through different nursing journals and lab preparations which indicates the domains that we as practitioners must be competent to address like the pain management, management on sanitation and safety of the patients, wound management, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease management and recording the vitals of the patients at regular intervals. The right to opine my concern with the services helps me to be empowered on the rights and responsibilities of the nurses where, in case of defunct, we can raise our concerns on a given platform.

The recent pandemic has been a lesson in disguise for the entire world to gear up on their supply equipment on safety and health, including the PPE kits which are essential for the nurse practitioner. This incident also helped me in understanding the requirement of safety protocols that as a nursing practitioner, I have to ensure (Halcomb et al. 2020). The stamina required to face criticism in this profession and achieve a high order of award is exemplary which I tend to follow in a different way by honing up my skills and raising the concerns as and when required to bring integrity and solidarity in practice.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, it may be summarized that historical nursing leaders have paved the path of strong principles and practices for professional practitioners like us. Their contribution to the profession has supported our growth in the nursing profession by following all the necessary protocols which may bring positive patient outcomes. The general practice of attending patients involves not only the doctors but also the nurses who bring in the 6 C's of caring theories and frameworks to support the patients and ensuring better outcomes in the healthcare services provided by them.