NUR 674 Week 1 Discussion
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
NUR 674 Week 1 Discussion
DQ1. Consider your current skills, strengths, and areas of weakness according to the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONE) Nurse Executive Competencies. How do you plan to integrate this knowledge into developing your comprehensive practicum project?
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed and signed into law in 2010. Subsequent implementation has contributed to reconfiguration in health care delivery, accelerated the demand for health care along with a shortage of key health care professionals, and opened up new and expanded roles for nurses under new care delivery models. Aimed at extending health insurance coverage, there are many provisions of the ACA, including those designed to emphasize prevention and wellness, improve quality and system performance, and curb costs. Notable among these aspects are the creation of health homes and integration of care for persons with chronic illnesses, improvements in care coordination, emphasis on prevention and primary care, investment in health information technology, and testing of new delivery and payment systems. Authorized under the ACA for Medicare reimbursement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented an initiative to reward acute care hospitals with quality-of-care incentive payments for the quality of care delivered to Medicare patients. Called Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP), this program bases payment (or nonpayment) to hospitals on how closely they follow best clinical practices and how well they enhance patients’ experience of care. The goal is to link payment to a value-based system that improves quality of care and is not just based on volume of services.
These changes in the context of health care delivery have driven the need to supercharge RNs’ leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities and develop targeted care coordination and integration competencies for a more robust skill set that is matched to changing clinical leadership imperatives. Because of ACA and VBP, there is an urgent need for innovation and better management of reciprocal interdependence. Nurses hold the central ground for quality, safety, and improving the patient experience. For example, having quick care clinics affiliated with a hospital can decrease nonemergent patients seeking health care on weekends and nights in the emergency department and increase patient satisfaction with not having to wait. However, to run smoothly, nurse clinical leadership is needed to coordinate and integrate care with affiliated sites such as laboratories, imaging centers, and pharmacies.
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1. Consider your current skills, strengths, and areas of weakness according to the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONE) Nurse Executive Competencies. How do you plan to integrate this knowledge into developing your comprehensive practicum project?
DQ2 What is the difference between leadership and management? Should all nurses be considered leaders? What characteristics of nurses make them leaders? How do your responses compare or contrast with the view of power according to servant leadership? Support your response with evidence from the textbook or study materials.
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1Present and discuss the setting for your practicum and ideas for your project. What is the purpose of conducting an organizational needs assessment? What needs have you identified? What tools or methods did you utilize to determine the need?
DQ2 You are in a place of influence in your professional life where you can help people be successful. Describe the relationship and what actions you have taken or could take to serve others. Based on the textbook, how does your response compare to the views of authority according to servant leadership? How does your response compare to the secular view of authority?
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1Discuss the scope of your project and how it aligns with the goals of the organization. Who are the stakeholders involved in the project? How can you apply what you have learned about servant approach to power and authority to your project development?
DQ2 Describe a time in your professional life when you felt used and manipulated. What were the circumstances? Did you feel valued by the leader? Based on the textbook, explain how the issue of purpose, in the servant leadership paradigm, could have yielded a more beneficial outcome for the leader and yourself.
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1When one considers the word love as a verb instead of a feeling, the biblical worldview would state that this loving relationship is related to two principles: honor and protection. Explain how these two principles guide servant leadership in the workplace.
DQ2How do servant leaders, as compared with leaders using the transformational model of leadership, manage organization dynamics and lead change to ensure that the continued success of the stakeholders will be served? Is servant leadership or transformational leadership the best approach to these tasks? Why?
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 5 Discussion
DQ1 Mentoring is an important aspect of leadership. Describe a mentor that you have or have had in the past. What style of leadership did they use? What characteristics did they display that drew you to them as a mentor?
DQ2 Servant leaders must be internally consistent with their words and actions (credibility). A credible person will do what they say. Describe a time when you felt free in displaying your integrity at work. Conversely, describe a time when you felt fearful or wary of displaying your integrity at work. What was the determining factor(s) that allowed you to lead by example versus going against your heart? If you never felt free in displaying your integrity at work, describe what conditions would need to exist for you to do so?
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1 How do you serve others in the profession of nursing? Does this differ depending on the environment (location, people, etc.)? Explain how the way you serve others in the profession of nursing could become more aligned with the issue of serving as explained by the servant leadership paradigm. How does the issue of serving differ from the secular view of power?
DQ2 Choose one provision from the ANA Code of Ethics. How is ethical behavior an integral part of being a nurse leader? How does one display the characteristics of a role model with this provision? Do ethics influence the leadership style of the nurse leader?
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 7 Discussion
DQ1 Have you ever worked with a leader who made you feel that you were more important than the leader? How did this make you feel? What were the circumstances? What was the outcome? If you have never experienced this kind of treatment from a leader, imagine what it would be like. Based on your response, explain how displays of humility by a leader exemplify servant leadership. Are these displays important in other types of leadership? Are displays of humility required to make someone else feel more important than you? Explain your answer.
DQ2 Staff development and evaluation is an essential leadership function. Discuss the necessary elements of effective staff development and evaluation techniques, including leadership characteristics. What role does humility play in staff development and evaluation? Provide an example.
NUR674 Leadership in Health Care Systems Practicum
Week 8 Discussion
DQ1 Summarize your leadership practicum in relation to the seven distinct characteristics outlined in the textbook. How will you change your behavior based on this new understanding of servant leadership? What strategies did you learn that, if implemented, would allow you to actualize the servant leadership principles in a leadership role?
DQ2 Looking back on your time with your mentor, would you consider your mentor a servant leader as described by in the textbook? If not, what type of leader is your mentor? Explain your answer. Elaborate on what characteristics your mentor displayed most consistently. Share examples from your experience to support your response.
Important information for writing discussion questions and participation
Welcome to class
Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to
I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.
Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.
If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.
Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.
Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.
I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Hi Class,
Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.
Contact me if you have any questions.
Important information on Writing a Discussion Question
- Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
- There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
- Include in-text citations in your response
- Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
- Follow APA-7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor
- A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
- Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
- Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
- Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
- Follow APA 7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
- Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
- Here are some helpful links
- The is a great resource