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José is with the Elders at Home program for his public health nursing clinical. He is assigned to Mr. and Mrs. Santos, a couple in their 70s struggling to manage their healthcare needs and stay in their home in an older inner-city neighborhood. Mrs. Santos provides primary assistance for her husband, who has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After a recent hospitalization, Mr. Santos received home care services from a home care nurse, a respiratory therapist, an occupational therapist, and a home health aide. These services were reimbursed by Medicare because Mr. Santos met the criteria of potential for rehabilitation and progress toward independent living. All went well. Then a 60-day health assessment resulted in a determination that Mr. Santos was no longer eligible for home care services. He was referred to the county public health Elders at Home program but has been resisting a home visit. José wonders, “I am just a student nurse. What can I do?” He sighs, “Well, it looks like my preceptor has handed me a challenge I can’t avoid. Isn’t there a chapter we are supposed to read on leadership in public health nursing?”
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JOSÉ'S NOTEBOOK Competency #12 Demonstrates Leadership in Public Health Nursing Practices With Individuals and Families, Communities, and Systems
Seeks learning opportunities when working with peers, organizations, and communities
Demonstrates ability to be flexible, adapt to change, and tolerate ambiguity while working in an unstructured environment
Seeks from and provides consultation and support to peers and community partners
Responds to population health needs in collaboration with systems and communities
Supports the autonomy of individuals and families in making decisions about their health and lifestyles
Contributes to team efforts to improve the quality of care provided to client populations
Prioritizes and organizes workload, time, materials, and resources to maximize benefits to clients and stakeholders
Participates in the political process to advocate for changes in health and social policies that affect population health, workforce health, and public health services delivery
Source: Henry Street Consortium, 2022.
USEFUL DEFINITIONS Advocacy-Based Leadership: Advocacy-based leadership occurs whenever a nurse is motivated by the needs of others to take actions to improve the health and well-being of others. The advocacy-based leadership journey begins the first time the student nurse reaches outside of the nurse-patient relationship to seek help and resources for the patient.
Authentic Leadership: A positive relational approach to leading that is focused on leader genuineness and follower success (Doherty & Hunter Revell, 2020). Authentic leaders are reflective practitioners whose actions are consistent with their values, ethical standards, and convictions (Murphy, 2012; Wong et al., 2010).
Collaborative Leadership: “Collaborative leadership means maintaining a process that includes everyone involved in an issue or organization. A process that depends on collaborative problem solving and decision-making” (University of Kansas, n.d., Section 11, para. 1).
Leadership: Leadership is the process and art of influencing, motivating, and leading others to achieve shared goals.
Leadership ...