Running head: ESSENTIAL II 1

Essential II-Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety

Meghan O’Neal

Frostburg State University

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ESSENTIAL II
Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing also abbreviated as AACN provides a

set of standards and expectations for the baccalaureate level of a nursing degree. Essential II

describes the importance of organizational and systems leadership, quality improvement, and

safety. Essential II titled “Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and

Patient Safety” (2008) also focuses on high quality patient care and the decision making process

behind that. These essentials are in place to ensure that each patient is receiving the best care

possible no matter how vulnerable they may be. These standards of care come from the

evidence-based practice model that the nursing profession follows. The evidence-based practice

models often overlap with patient-centered care. With healthcare policies changing each year it is

important to remain up to date with the information presented in this essential II reference.

Exemplar

For my leadership project I chose to put myself in a fictional place of management. I

created a power point with narration that described how healthcare policy, leadership, finance,

and patient centered care would look like if I was the nurse manager of the Neonatal Intensive

Care Unit (NICU) that I currently work on. As a staff nurse I have been able to see how changes

that the nurse manager makes effect staff members and this helped me to develop my own ideas

when it comes to policy, finance, and regulatory environments. Currently at Ruby Memorial

there are a lot of regulatory agencies and policy change makers already in place. I described the

established nurse residency program and how this program functions within the hospital as well

as how I would use this program to continue to facilitate an easy transition into such a large

hospital for new nurses. I also discussed the JCAHO agency that accredits this hospital and how

I as the nurse manager would facilitate drills and questionnaires in order to be prepared for their
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ESSENTIAL II
annual visits. In addition to these agencies I made sure to mention our ethical and legal groups

that work within the hospital. The ethical group and its diverse members can be contacted at any

time when one feels there is an ethical dilemma at hand. The same goes for the legal team and

this team also works closely with policy, in which I was able to describe how I would continue to

educate myself as the nurse manager on up to date practices for the neonatal population. I was

able to verbally explain how as a leader I would help to implement these regulatory tasks and

policy enforcers. In addition to the regulatory agencies, I described a picture of what my unit

would look like and how the facility would function. I discussed the increase in Philippine nurses

to enhance cultural diversity as well as provided some forecasting ideas for the upcoming years.

These ideas displayed more financially efficient ways to separate and run the unit in a smooth

and organized fashion. As for the return of investment and reimbursement section I gave a clear

example involving car seat safety. This example also allowed me to display how I would

increase the marketing for the NICU car seat safety nurses. I finished up the power point with

thoughts and ideas on how to display leadership in the disaster situation and what kind of

policies were in place for such events.

Reflection

This leadership project involving actions taken as a nurse manager regarding the policy,

finance, and leadership accurately fits under the Baccalaureate Essentials described in “The

Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice” (American Nurses

Association, 2008). “As a member of a healthcare team, baccalaureate graduates will

understand and use quality improvement concepts, processes, and outcome measures. In

addition, graduates will be able to assist or initiate basic quality and safety investigations; assist
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in the development of quality improvement action plans; and assist in monitoring the results of

these action plans within the clinical microsystem, which is embedded within a larger system of

care.” (AACN, 2008, p 13) This quote encompasses my project perfectly. Not only does my

leadership power point explain my preferred methods of leadership, it also describes how I

would implement these techniques if I were the nurse manager. The power point also discusses

future methods of improving the unit for the good of the neonates as well as advocacy methods

already being put to use. Some of these methods include the ethical team and the legal team.

Together with the help of our nurses our patients should be receiving high quality care.
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References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate

education for professional nursing practice. Washington, D.C: Author.