Week 7: Discussion Question – Inspiring Hope in a Nursing Leadership Role Discussion Prompt Discuss the potential impact of a nurse leader who embraces hopefulness for the future on the well-being of team members that he or she leads.

Expert Answer and Explanation

Inspiring Hope in a Nursing Leadership Role

Nursing is a demanding career that can sometimes be overwhelming to nurses. Nurses experience issues that include being overwhelmed with work, losing patients, and poor collaboration with colleagues in other professions. Therefore, a team leader must inspire the members with hope for the future as this will positively impact their performance and well-being (Wagner, 2018). One of the impacts of a hopeful nurse leader is that the followers become more resilient in their work (Wei et al. 2019).

By giving the members hope of a brighter future, nurses become ready to tackle hurdles such as working extra shifts to increase a better future. Additionally, the nurse becomes motivated in their work. Some nurses are usually disheartened by low pay, lack of promotions, and excessive work at the workplace. However, when their leader gives them hope and offers them a direction to follow, they remain motivated that the future will be brighter, positively influencing their performance.

By inspiring hope in nurses, leaders can focus on the wellbeing of nurses. For instance, with the COVID 19 pandemic, most nurses were overwhelmed and experienced mental breakdowns due to the high load of work, patient loss, and risks they posed to their health. In such situations, hopeful leaders are essential as they advise the followers on the best course of action and lead by example (Wagner, 2018). For instance, in the presence of COVID 19, the leaders inspire nurses by explaining that the pandemic will end and that they are the chosen ones to help patients to deal with the ailments. As a result, a hopeful leader ensures that nurses’ mental health checks, leading to better patient outcomes.

References

Wagner, J. (2018). Leadership and influencing change in nursing. University of Regina Press.

Wei, H., Roberts, P., Strickler, J., & Corbett, R. W. (2019). Nurse leaders’ strategies to foster nurse resilience. Journal of nursing management, 27(4), 681-687.