Educational Preparation of Clinical Nurse Leaders
Clinical nurse leaders are nurses who possess high competencies and skills thereby being given a role in the improvement of patient outcomes. The nurse leadersare expected to undergo a series of educational programs before acquiring this position. For instance, they are require to undergo pathophysiology classes. This helps them understand the disease process thus preparing them for their role in the implementation of evidenced-based solutions at the health facility (Competencies and Curricular Expectations for Clinical Nurse Leader Education and Practice, 2015). Also, they are require undergo training in the leadership process. This facilitates their role in leadership at the hospital unit. They are also prepared in the field of finance management, informatics in the clinical setup and pharmacology (Harris, 2014). All clinical nursing leaders are registered nurses possessing a masters of science in nursing with the above mentioned additional education skills.
Roles of Clinical Nurse Leaders
They influence the care of patient through various ways. Some of the roles through with they enhance patient outcomes include risk assessment and the coordination of activities.They also develop quality improvement strategies through which they adopt various ways to improve patient care (Institute of Medicine, 2000). A good illustration of their role in the improvement of care includes a case of a patient with a septic wound. In such a case, the nurse leader may come up with ways to ensure healing of the wound other than the normal wound cleaning. Such strategies may include the use of metronidazole to curb a parasitic infection to the wound as opposed to the regularly used normal saline. It is therefore quite clear that with the enhanced level of knowledge, the clinical nurse leader can improve the quality of care given to the patients. This improves the patient outcomes thereby improving patient satisfaction.
References
Competencies and Curricular Expectations for Clinical Nurse Leader Education and Practice (2015)
Institute of Medicine. (2000). To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Harris, Roussel & Thomas (2014) Initiating and Sustaining the Clinical Nurse Leader Role edition = 2nd Burlington, VA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
