Interview with a Nursing Supervisor about Organizational Communication and Concepts

Organizational Interview
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Organizational Interview
Part I
I conducted a Zoom interview with Cate (not her real name). Cate is a nurse supervisor working with a healthcare facility in Los Angeles. As a Registered Nurse, Cate has worked for the last 18 years. She joined the current organization seven years ago as a nurse. After two years in the place, she was promoted to the current position as a nurse supervisor. Over the years, Cate has gained a wealth of experience in leadership. I chose her because of the changes she has brought at her current position since becoming a supervisor. Cate's duties involve managing and coordinating nurse schedules. She is tasked with allocating nurses' tasks for the day. Here, Cate ensures that at any given moment, patients have nurses to attend them. Additionally, Cate ensures that nurses adhere to the relevant standards. It is her responsibility to ensure that nurses ensure that all the required procedures are followed. Further, Cate trains new nurses. Because of her extensive experience, Cate ensures that new nurses receive the skills necessary to perform their duties. She equips them with the relevant skills to empower them to gain practical knowledge on what should be done.
She is passionate about seeing healthcare facilities becoming more efficient in dealing with patients. Having been in the profession for the last 18 years, Cate has discovered why some healthcare facilities have challenges dealing with staff members. Given the importance of the healthcare system in the US, Cate believes that more needs to be done. That is why she dedicates her time encouraging other nurses to become more efficient in executing their duties. Cate exhibits leadership skills in her place of work. Colleagues praise her for being passionate about using leadership to improve the efficiency of healthcare facilities. Cate believes that good leadership can address a majority of the challenges the US healthcare system is currently facing. Interviewing her was an eye-opener into how healthcare facilities operate.
Part II
A. The nature of communication
Cate appreciates that communication is the backbone of how any organization operates. Without communication, it is impossible to pass information from one point to another. It is through communication that physicians and nurses can interact to improve the outcomes of their patients. Cate uses communication to pass information to the nurses on what is expected of them. Without proper communication, nurses cannot perform their duties as expected. Cate indicates that all leaders need to appreciate the nature of communication. They should understand how communication plays a critical role in ensuring that patients receive high-quality services. Cate indicates that communication takes place in three main ways. These include verbal, nonverbal and visual. In any organization, managers should use a combination of these methods to pass information. For example, the wards of the facility where Cate works have signs reminding nurses to wash their hands after having contact with a patient. The signs are placed strategically where nurses can see them. The aim is to pass communication that reminds them to maintain hand hygiene while handling patients. Cate also spends time communicating verbally to nurses on the importance of maintaining hand hygiene. When Cate combines both verbal and nonverbal communication, she gets a more positive response from the team.
Additionally, Cate indicates that understanding the nature of communication is critical. For instance, some people ignore the aspect of medium and feedback. The medium of communication that a sender chooses is fundamental in determining whether or not the receiver will get the information. When communicating to staff members, Cate chooses a medium that is more accessible to the nurses. This ensures that information reaches out to the intended audience. At the same time, feedback demonstrates how well the receiver has understood the message. Feedback is needed to indicate that the target has received information as intended by the sender. In the healthcare facility, feedback can be about nurses doing what is expected of them, based on information communicated.
B. Organizational concepts
Cate indicates that healthcare in the US is constantly changing to become more complex. The healthcare system in the country and around the world is transforming at a higher rate to accommodate changes. Cate believes that such continual metaphoric nature of healthcare forces nurses to have the right leadership philosophy. While nurses can employ various leadership philosophies, Cate indicates that a transformational leadership style is more appropriate. When asked about the meaning of transformational leadership, Cate demonstrates that it entails motivating nurses to take ownership of their roles and work beyond what is expected of them. A transformational leader encourages innovation to solve problems. In the facility where Cate works, reports indicated that the rate of patient falls was high, especially among older adults. Cate brought together a team of representatives from different wards to address the issue. It was suggested that most falls occurred when nurses were away from the wards, an indication that the patients were trying to get something or to move around. Addressing the problem included increasing hourly rounds to ensure that patients could easily communicate to the nurses about their issues. A transformational leadership philosophy has enabled Cate’s organization to improve patient safety. Initially, the management followed an autocratic leadership style. At the time, the ra...