NR632 Week 4 SR

respond

Leadership symbolizes a set of abilities and skills that are used to create and share specific visions and objectives. They include coaching and educating, advocating, and improving the quality of care (Lamb, Martin-Misener, Bryant-Lukosius, & Latimer, 2018). As advanced practice nurses, we obtain a level of experience and knowledge to understand and promote advocacy in multiple areas and various ways. Nurse leaders can help advocate for change by addressing the situation utilizing four different spheres. The four spheres include the government, the workplace, interest groups, and the community (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, Freida, & O’Grady, 2016). Each sphere represents a diverse population with a mixture of education, power, and backgrounds. When the four separate spheres can come together and advocate for change, the mission is more obtainable.

In a previous class, I had discovered the need to advocate and change mental health care for the Las Vegas community. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the second leading cause of death, and depression was a prominent cause of disability worldwide (Lake & Turner, 2017). Working as an emergency room (ER) nurse, I have seen the revolving door effect and lack of resources for this particular group of individuals first hand. Advocating for change and increasing insurance coverage can help assist in improving care for people suffering from mental health complications. Over the past several year’s government officials in Nevada have cut mental health funding, which has drastically reduced community resources and insurance coverage. As a nurse leader, I could help advocate for change by utilizing the four spheres as a platform to increase awareness and education regarding the need to improve mental health resources and expand insurance coverage to help reduce the rate of suicide in the state of Nevada.

As a nurse executive advocating for change, I am provided with the ability to break professional barriers in the workplace, fix fragmented clinical systems, and increase administrative awareness (Ingwell-Spolan, 2018). I can help by educating and acknowledging the problem through previous clinical experience, in addition to the new knowledge that I have acquired through my advanced nursing degree. Being able to see both sides of a situation helps bring people from different backgrounds and educational levels together to understand the problem, why it is occurring, and together help create a solution.