Leadership and emotional intelligence in nursing and midwifery education and practice: a discussion paper

Aim
A discussion of the concepts of leadership and emotional intelligence in nursing and midwifery education and practice.

Background
The need for emotionally intelligent leadership in the health professions is acknowledged internationally throughout the nursing and midwifery literature. The concepts of emotional intelligence and emotional-social intelligence have emerged as important factors for effective leadership in the healthcare professions and require further exploration and discussion. This paper will explore these concepts and discuss their importance in the healthcare setting with reference to current practices in the UK, Ireland and internationally.

Design
Discussion paper.

Data sources
A search of published evidence from 1990–2015 using key words (as outlined below) was undertaken from which relevant sources were selected to build an informed discussion.

Implications for nursing/midwifery
Fostering emotionally intelligent leadership in nursing and midwifery supports the provision of high quality and compassionate care. Globally, leadership has important implications for all stakeholders in the healthcare professions with responsibility for maintaining high standards of care. This includes all grades of nurses and midwives, students entering the professions, managerial staff, academics and policy makers.

Conclusion
This paper discusses the conceptual models of leadership and emotional intelligence and demonstrates an important link between the two. Further robust studies are required for ongoing evaluation of the different models of emotional intelligence and their link with effective leadership behaviour in the healthcare field internationally. This is of particular significance for professional undergraduate education to promote ongoing compassionate, safe and high quality standards of care.

Using protocols in ICU practice. Engaging the staff.

Aims/Purpose: Protocols are evidenced-based structured guides for directing care to achieve improvements. But translating that evidence into practice is a major challenge. It is not acceptable to simply introduce the protocol and expect it to be adopted and lead to change in practice. Implementation requires effective leadership and management. This presentation describes a strategy for implementation that should promote successful adoption and lead to practice change.
Presentation description: There are many social and behavioural change models to assist and guide practice change. Choosing a model to guide implementation is important for providing a framework for action. The change process requires careful thought, from the protocol itself to the policies and politics within the ICU. In this presentation, I discuss a useful pragmatic guide called the 6SQUID (6 Steps in QUality Intervention Development). This was initially designed for public health interventions, but the model has wider applicability and has similarities with other change process models. Steps requiring consideration include examining the purpose and the need for change; the staff that will be affected and the impact on their workload; and the evidence base supporting the protocol. Subsequent steps in the process that the ICU manager should consider are the change mechanism (widespread multi-disciplinary consultation; adapting the protocol to the local ICU); and identifying how to deliver the change mechanism (educational workshops and preparing staff for the changes are imperative). Recognising the barriers to implementation and change and addressing these locally is also important. Once the protocol has been implemented, there is generally a learning curve before it becomes embedded in practice. Audit and feedback on adherence are useful strategies to monitor and sustain the changes.
Conclusion: Managing change successfully will promote a positive experience for staff. In turn, this will encourage a culture of enthusiasm for translating evidence into practice.

From teaching clinician to research academic- changing focus within UK nurse education; a discussion paper

The focus of this discussion paper is the need for effective professional socialisation of student nurses and the degree to which core values and culture are transferred through University schools of nursing, the academic teaching staff and to the student nurses.
UK schools of nursing had progressively transferred into university institutions more than two decades ago. Schools of nursing and the teaching academics within them, to a greater or lesser extent, impact on and help to professionally socialize student nurses. Professed core values of universities whilst including a focus on excellence and innovation, perhaps also include, collegiality, integrity and social commitment to care. These are all qualities, which should be core values and elements
of the transferable professional culture to student nurses. Notwithstanding the professed core values, at least in some areas of UK universities there is some evidence of increasing competition and a disproportionate research market driven focus. This can reflect back into schools of nursing and is inconsistent with nursing professional values.

This paper explores the degree to which the professed core values of universities and the institutional culture are necessarily enacted, and the degree to which
any dissonance in the institutions professed/enacted core values and culture reflect through the schools of nursing and impact in the professional socialisation of student nurses. The paper also explores the degree to which effective leadership in schools of nursing can help to maintain professional core values and a culture of nursing professional

Nursing and medical students as agents of change in health care: impact of schools core values and culture-a discussion paper

Within the UK the quality of care delivered in some hospitals, nursing homes and caring facilities has been the subject of significant enquiry, challenge and concern in recent years. There was need for a change in the culture of patient and client care. Traditionally a change in culture is seen as moving from an organisational head through to the organisation and in this case through to front-line care. This hasn’t necessarily achieved the desired effect and impact in terms of quality of care within the UK. Historically, certainly nurses have acted more as recipients of change, rather than agents of change
This paper suggests that schools of nursing and medicine with robust core values and a more consistently enacted culture of care, are better able and more likely to transfer this to nursing and medical students within their professional socialisation. In addition, and rather than the newly qualified nurse or doctor being absorbed into existing cultures of care delivery (which are not necessarily always reflecting high qualities of care), schools of nursing and medicine could better facilitate the development of more `agency’ within students and better equipping the students on qualification and stepping into practice, with a role and function as potential agents of change. Effective leadership within schools of nursing and medicine can both translate to quality and consistency, and enactment of organisational core values and working culture. The working culture of schools is intrinsic to developing students as agents of change