Hello everyone, Today, I would like to talk about an
example of good leadership on risk management
during Covid-19.
My talk will be divided into five parts, as shown in this
slide.
I will begin by looking at a brief Introduction:
The intensity and rapidness of covid 19 have left
society and especially the health care sector reeling
from the effects of the pandemic and exposed how
many health and economic systems were wholly
unprepared for such a crisis (Formal et al., 2020). The
pandemic itself is one of the primary causes of the
current chaos within healthcare. Pandemics are not
relatively new and have existed for centuries, and they
will inevitably occur again (Formal et al, 2020).
Changing how the health system works, especially in
terms of risk management, will require prioritizing
effective leadership throughout the health care sector
and, in the process, transform health care
organizations so that they can come out of the
pandemic much more substantial than before (Formal
et al., 2020).
This can be achieved by a leader who has:
Strength to influence others \ A person who has strong
leadership skills is often one who becomes a positive example
to their subordinates and can achieve good results, which
win him or her the admiration of others and their trust. This
influences their subordinates to change their behavior and
attitudes.
Secondly, Leaders must lead their teams to commit to their
assigned duties and tasks and promote teamwork to meet
organizational objectives. This, therefore, shows that good
leaders often have a clear vision of the organization and can
quickly assess systems and identify problems that stand
between them and organizational goals.
Then The quality of motivation is what good leaders have.
They also possess the ability to gain people's attention. In
addition, good leadership inspires teams to achieve their
potential fully and shows them that they can become a better
version of themselves.
Determined also is an essential characteristic which proves
good leadership overall is making things happen that would
not otherwise happen.
Moreover, finally, The Ability to spot talent \ that they
believe will fit into the organization and the situation at
hand. They can bring people together to achieve common set
goals and objectives, and aspirations, which helps turn the
visions into reality.
Moving on to talk about Good leadership and its
relation to Risk Management:
(Richter et al., 2020) state that, In the health care
sector, The executive management and hospital
supervisors are taking a much more vital role in risk
management efforts. This is due to the higher priority
risks that they face during Covid-19. Healthcare
providers are underscoring the need to have a much
more robust management involvement in the
facilitation of decision-making regarding strategic
risks and encourage the culture of risk management
further down the system. Many healthcare systems are
struggling during the pandemic, and the technology
revolution and globalisation are further worsening the
challenges within the system during the pandemic.
Furthermore, (Aquilla 2020) states that the pandemic
brought a host of healthcare issues and challenged
their health process in many ways. The need to
manage some of the risks and provide sound
leadership incredibly as many nurses were affected.
So, in terms of Good Leadership During Covid-19: An
article by (Aqulla 2020) shares the Nurse Executive
Council at The Beryl Institute's discussion of some
practical Nurse leaders' experiences of risk
management during the pandemic different hospitals
in the USA.
In this context, the nurse leaders applied several
leadership qualities which allow them to succeed in
their line of work.
First is 1- Effective decision making.
So, in terms of applying effective decision-making in
times of crisis, leaders across the health care system
often do not have the time to access and collect any
accurate information to be able to make informed
decisions. It is widely believed that when faced with a
crisis, tough decisions must be made, and one only
needs to have only 40-70% of information to make an
informed decision. Therefore, when leaders tend to
make decisions, they are required to represent the
interests of the patient and their families by
prioritizing their needs (Harrison et al., 2019).
ACTION:
An example of that is when one of the most profound
Nurse leader management in Bridgeport Hospital was
adopting telehealth to enhance their capability to
reach out to patients and their families through digital
and virtual visits. In addition, these services enable
patients to keep in touch with their healthcare
providers and access services that are fundamental in
their care. Overall, there were several leadership
qualities that the nurses had that led them to succeed
in their line of work (Aquilla, 2020).
Looking at this picture where a nurse is holding an
iPad at the bedside to ensure patient-family
communication.
The second quality is Effective Communication:
(Kantanen et al., 2017) emphasis on the importance of
communication in promoting organizational success.
In the health care setting, having both effective
internal and external communication strategies is an
essential part of effective leadership, especially during
a crisis. The continuous shifts in rules and regulations
concerning nurses, especially when some of their
teams were working and managing care for their
patients.
ACTION:
One of the ways that nurse leaders at Mount Carmel
Hospitals used to promote effective communication
was to use incident command calls to review out the
changes made and offer inspiration reflections to the
teams (Aquilla et al., 2020). This form of reflective
communication strategy allowed the nurses to pause
and take moments to breathe, which led to the recentering of nurse leaders and their staff in terms of
their priorities. There were various methods used to
communicate to staff, especially those that dealt with
patient care on the ever-evolving challenges regarding
patient care. The daily calls held supported the
organization's prioritization in terms of patient care
and their experiences and address staff concerns. The
leaders would also hold workgroups to dive into
problem-solving and come up with rapid resolutions
(Aquilla et al., 2020).
After that, in terms of Adaptive leadership:
During a crisis, leaders are often held accountable and
are called to establish metrics to measure the efficacy
of their services and their progress. (Kraus et al.,
2016).
ACTION:
Moreover, it is observed when The nurse leaders at
Bridgeport Hospital adopted dashboards to monitor
the progression of covid hospitalisation, which helped
plan for the peaking census point.
Also, The ability to create community-wide situational
awareness of the virus allowed nurse leaders to
communicate to their teams what was happening in
other health systems and quell rumors to decrease
anxiety. Also, having the capacity to gain a broader
knowledge of the virus allowed nurses, especially those
in the front line, to gain perspective on ensuring
optimized care for their patients regarding their
delivery experiences.
Then there was a need to maintain the physiological
and psychological safety of their employees. Therefore,
several self-care and resiliency tools were offered to
nurses. Internal experts on resiliency offered
educational workshops on resilience. Multiple social
media live events were held to support nurses, fitness
training (held virtually), family resources for their
children, and music therapy. A covid-19 helpline was
staffed with leaders who were available to answer the
queries and concerns of their employees (Aquilla et al.,
2020).
Finally, Human-Centered Leadership is essential to
maintain good leadership in an article by (Deyo et al.,
2016)
The authors show that The importance of working
fully with one's teams is often heightened in times of
crisis. Taking care of people is crucial in navigating
through difficult times. For nurse leaders, the focus is
usually on their teams and their patients and their
families in terms of maintaining positivity. Nurse
leaders are often aware of the need to promote joyful
experiences for their staff and patients.
ACTION:
A live example In Palliative care at Bridgeport
Hospital, nurse leaders implemented new approaches
to enhancing patient and family experiences, creating
positive experiences on their team and staff. For
example, they would create special moments such as
birthday celebrations, distant courtyard concerts.
They would also make special mementos such as
legacy projects, photography books, and necklaces to
celebrate important life events. As end-of-life care
becomes increasingly complex during the pandemic,
these celebratory projects became critical for patient
and family-centered care. In addition, finding ways to
create lasting memories helped bring joy to the nurses
and staff members during this challenging period.
This picture is when the hospital held a wedding party
for one of the patients.
Conclusively The nurse leaders at Bridgeport and
Mount Carmel Hospitals have shown effective
leadership in terms of creating a positive experience in
terms of care for their patients as well as adopting new
strategies in the enhancement of care of their patients
and families as well as effectively upholding the
physical and psychological safety of their nurses and
staff.
So, to sum up this discussion, we can say that effective
leadership is crucial in times of crisis, especially as
covid-19 is ravaging populations and increasingly
affecting every aspect of social life and the economy.
For health care providers, there is a need to uphold
effective leadership and risk management skills to
overcome such crucial situations.
Thank you for listening.
Furthermore, here is the reference list.