Journal Entry #1

• Think about how theories of leadership and management impact nursing leadership and management roles.

Leadership: A process of influence in which the leader influences others toward goal achievment.
Management:  A process of coordinating actions and allocating resources to achieve organizational goals.

Leadership is huge when it comes to nursing.  A unit or facility cannot function without participating leaders.  Of course there is a manager in  place, but the manager is not always accessible.  Having a leader in the department at all times helps with the flow of the unit, the moral, and the overall feel the unit can preseent to those who are occupying the unit.  Leaders can motivate staff to be team players, to better the workplace by personality improvement, etc.  Setting goals for a shift in order to make things run more smoothly and function more efficiently.  Without leadership, nursing would be a caotic profession. 
Management on the other hand is very important in how it impacts nursing. Coordinating actions and allocating resouces is huge when it comes to the way a department functions.  For example, without appropriate staffing, the unit can fall apart due to to high of patient to nurse ratios, or not having the appropriate equipement for interventions etc.  Education, budget etc all influence how the department functions and without a manager these particular aspects may never be looked at.