Each student will identify a nurse leader from clinical or personal experiences and conduct a personal interview, using an interview guide which addresses content discussed over the course of the semester. Two reflections will be posted in the student’s ePortfolio:1) each reflection should be approximately 1 page, double spaced, 2) the below questions are suggestions but the reflection should demonstrate your thoughts and insights about the topic, 3) grammar and spelling should be checked for accuracy. Please do not use this leader’s real name, but provide a ‘fake’ name.
- Pre-Interview reflection: (Due 2/18 by 3 PM) How did you choose your subject? What qualities or characteristics have you observed prior to the interview that made you identify this person as a leader? Is this a formal or informal leadership position? How do these differ? What are you most interested in learning from this individual?
The subject I chose is someone in my family who is a nurse of an emergency department. When I met this women I immediately knew how strong she was and how much nursing meant to her. She covers both a formal and informal leadership position between work and family. She is always helping out at her hospital in many different aspects and working tirelessly around the clock–covering doubles most weeks.
Not only does she work incredibly, but she also is always there for her family; even if she just worked an overnight and her daughter needs a babysitter that day. Although I know her schedule and how many hours she puts into work and family, I would love to know how she does it. I suspect the emergency department to be quite tiring, yet she’s always there–for more than she is asked! Every holiday I have seen her at this year, she has been there by her families side celebrating but also preparing for an overnight the night of. I have found that nothing truly stops this women. She makes it so clear that she loves what she does not only as a nurse but as a mother and grandmother as well. I also want to get a deeper understanding as her role as a nurse in the emergency department and ask her what her best and worst times are. Although I am not interested in the emergency department, I want to get this leader’s passionate perspective to see what she has to say.
I have learned so much of what it means to be a leader not from speaking with her, but watching what she does and how she does it. Consistently going out of her way to make others feel loved and appreciated, but also maintaining her own happiness. I want to learn more as to how she perceives herself as a leader and what she has planned for the future.
- Post-Interview reflection: (3/11 by 3 PM): What did you learn from this interview about leadership in nursing? What surprised you? What support systems are available to this leader? How do they maintain balance in their lives? What responses reinforced your knowledge? How did this interview influence your feelings about this leader? How will you apply this new knowledge in your nursing career?
From this interview I learned the importance of adapting to how to meet the needs of each team member individually. It is important that I and my team members fully understand duties and expectations. In this interview she mentioned how she aims to lead by example to show the best way for her team members to perform on their own. I was surprised by how well she appeared to manage her team. I felt that with a team of even over four people, like in our nursing school projects, it is difficult to manage the team but she excels at managing double that if not more! I learned that she was worked up toward these bigger achievements and team “size”. She explained that she started off with simpler tasks and over time had been built up to manage more and more people, and taught different areas of managing–adding like a tier system.
For her, the biggest support system is her husband. She works countless hours weekly going into overtime and working doubles every week but he is always there to support her mentally and physically. Although she works heavily and is dedicated in her career, her and her husband set aside time for one another. She mentioned that they enjoy planning a night out every week and they always spend time with their grandkids during the week or weekend depending on her schedule. A major “out” for her was being able to see her grandchildren, they are 2 and 3 years old, and she explained that getting to babysit them and spend time with them really takes her mind off of the emergency room mindset.
Something that this leader mentioned about her busy life was how she manages her time well by creating weekly calendars and making time blocks for her work life, social life, family life, and herself. I thought when she talked about the time she schedules to take to herself was really important. I often find that I rarely schedule things for myself to do physically and mentally and when discussing this with her she gave me some pointers in how to find the time for yourself and what to do for yourself! Especially during the semester I constantly feel like I am doing homework and that there never seems to be an end. She showed me when in my schedule I can take even just an hour to myself and step away from nursing school. I thought that this was really motivating to hear her explain this because coming from her, who is so dedicated in her work, she too knows when to step away!
