Background
The confidentiality of patient information can only be ensured by the joint work of all related health workers. However, unit supervisors, such as nurse leaders, can significantly contribute to a more effective solution to this problem. These professionals have many opportunities to implement a plan to increase awareness and knowledge among nurses and patients about privacy concerns. This essay aims to analyze the roles and actions of nurse leaders in the context of the proposed plan.
Communication with Stakeholders
One of the nurse leaders’ essential advantages is the ability to communicate directly with all stakeholders. Compared to nursing managers, they have much more tools for establishing contacts and resolving disputes between the care team and patients (“A breakdown of nursing leadership,” 2020). Nurse leaders can interact with the main stakeholders, patients, directly and guide their communication with all other staff. Such a centralized position allows you to effectively resolve many controversial issues and hold various meetings, quickly delivering the necessary information. Finally, as a team leader, such a person has a certain amount of authority that can be used to increase awareness further.
Training
The leadership position of such specialists allows for high-quality and practical training, increasing knowledge of the issue under consideration. Moreover, this attitude and such actions are actively encouraged at various levels. For example, one of the responsibilities of chief nursing informatics officers is to provide nurse leaders with up-to-date knowledge of technology and procedures (“How nurse leaders help ensure patient confidentiality,” n.d.). Consequently, as intermediaries, these specialists can ensure the transfer of information and its most practical application in practice. In addition, by knowing the qualifications of the staff, nurse leaders can advise their superiors on more up-to-date external training programs.
Budget
Budgeting and financial interactions are the prerogatives of various types of managers, so usually, the influence of nurses here can only be indirect. However, nurse leaders can actively influence this process using their experience. Although the final selection of training programs is the work of other departments, these specialists can provide essential data on the team qualifications. In addition, they can influence the budget through increased efficiency, which in turn reduces the costs (“A breakdown of nursing leadership,” 2020). This may allow managers to select courses that best suit the current environment.
Change Management
In this section, nurse leaders’ role is critical due to their position as mediators. As team supervisors, these professionals can gather the information needed for the program, thus continuously evaluating the impacted change. In addition, by skillfully distributing information gained from external and internal sources, they can make the change process much more efficient. Finally, with access to a wealth of information, they can use the most appropriate resources and theories to prevent the leakage of personal data, now and in the future.
Change Management Theory
One of such theories, which is most suitable for the problem under study, is Kotter’s 8-Step model. According to research, this theory is most often used to implement local change (Harrison et al., 2021). In addition, it is designed to be easily used by nursing leaders. For example, creating a sense of urgency and building a powerful coalition are the first steps in this model. These parameters are most easily implemented in the context of the considered issue, precisely at the level of nurse leaders, who have sufficient mobility to unite the team and make decisions about the need for changes. Thus, these specialists can manage the situation even more effectively by applying such theories in practice.
Authority
Finally, nurse leaders can act as the most effective intermediaries between patients and administrations through their position. By interacting with various authorities, they can report urgent problems and communicate the need for structural changes considering local transformations. A leadership position will allow you to most accurately formulate requirements and draw up requests for the necessary resources. Thus, within the framework of this project, nurse leaders can act as tools to draw the attention of superiors to existing problems and coordinate the actions of managers and nurses.
References
A breakdown of nursing leadership & management roles. (2020). University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. Web.
Harrison, R., Fischer, S., Walpola, R. L., Chauhan, A., Babalola, T., Mears, S., & Le-Dao, H. (2021). Where do models for change management, improvement and implementation meet? A systematic review of the applications of change management models in healthcare. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 13, 85. Web.
How nurse leaders help ensure patient confidentiality. (n.d.). Regis College. Web.