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- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
This study sought to determine the nursing leadership competencies clinical managers expect of new nurses in an acute care setting and to identify gaps between end-of-program nursing leadership competencies, as outlined in The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, with leadership competencies identified by clinical managers in an acute-care setting.
A single, bounded case study approach was used to collect data from nurse managers and assistant nurse managers at one acute care hospital. Data from intensive interviews, focus groups, and archival records were analyzed. Seven major themes related to clinical leadership emerged, including intentional learning, communication, professional practice, advocacy, teamwork, influencing practice, and systems thinking. Traits, mentoring, and generational differences emerged as secondary themes.
Data from this study revealed a developmental sequence for clinical leadership. Certain expectations identified as antecedent to clinical leadership emerged initially, whereas other aspects of clinical leadership, developed later in the career trajectory. It was clear that accomplishing nursing care tasks was a fundamental expectation for professional nursing practice. Communication, teamwork and advocacy are crucial leadership competencies which help the new nurse to effectively manage time and provide safe, high-quality nursing care. As the new nurse continues to develop, systems thinking and influencing nursing practice emerge as significant expectations. Nurse managers have clear expectations for how new nurses should be prepared for clinical leadership. The degree to which clinical practice partners employing new nurses and academic nursing programs educating future nurses collaborate to establish expected outcomes is variable; however, academic-practice collaborations are crucial in developing educational standards for entry to practice in complex healthcare delivery systems.
Minority mental health patients face many health inequities and inequalities that may stem from implicit bias and a lack of cultural awareness from their healthcare providers. I analyzed the current literature evaluating implicit bias among healthcare providers and culturally specific life traumas that Latinos and African Americans face that can impact their mental health. Additionally, I researched a current mental health assessments tool, the Child and Adolescent Trauma Survey (CATS), and evaluated it for the use on Latino and African American patients. Face-to-face interviews with two healthcare providers were also used to analyze the CATS for its’ applicability to Latino and African American patients. Results showed that these assessments were not sufficient in capturing culturally specific life traumas of minority patients. Based on the literature review and analysis of the interviews with healthcare providers, a novel assessment tool, the Culturally Traumatic Events Questionnaire (CTEQ), was created to address the gaps that currently make up other mental health assessment tools used on minority patients.
The aim of this thesis is to provide prelicensure nursing faculty at Arizona State University with a supplemental resource and presentation on inclusivity, with specific respect to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer (LGBTQ+) demographic. Background research posits that prelicensure nursing faculty possess limited information about how to teach students to provide inclusive care and communicate respectfully with patients in the LGBTQ+ population group. This project synthesizes current research pertaining to health inequities within this demographic, and summarizes reported patient care experiences to illustrate a need for prelicensure faculty education in this area. Information from this research was extrapolated, and a supplemental resource regarding inclusivity created, which was presented to prelicensure nursing faculty at a staff meeting using an in-person modality. A survey was conducted at the conclusion of this educational presentation, gathering anonymous demographic data, as well as opinions as to the usefulness of the presentation in the setting of prelicensure nursing education. Results were then analyzed thematically, with 70% of those surveyed currently incorporating some form of LGBTQ+ education within their curriculum. These results suggest the majority of surveyed prelicensure faculty found the educational presentation and accompanying resource both useful and informative, and intend to apply information learned to their future practice as a nursing educator. These findings provide justification for continuing education and additional learning experiences in this area.