Nurse Leader Post-Interview Reflection

I learned a lot during the interview process with the nurse leader I chose. She was willing to describe different hardships she faced while executing her leadership role and shared the various accomplishments she has made as well. I learned that leadership is a role that not everyone is qualified for and takes a variety of skills such as delegation, time management, and empathy to be an effective leader. Not all leaders need a special title to show that they are able to fit the leadership role however in a hospital setting there are given titles to the leaders which allows staff members to locate them and know who to reach out to when something is in question. 

The biggest challenge my nurse leader faced was her age. She is a new nurse and was appointed the leadership position of charge nurse and is now managing other nurses that have been in the career longer than she has been alive. She explained that some of the older nurses do not feel as though they have to listen to her because they have more experience as a nurse than her. 

The most surprising thing I learned in the interview was that as a night shift charge nurse, there are a lot of responsibilities that she has to handle on her own. During the night there aren’t many healthcare professionals with leadership roles in the hospital. During the day, there are various healthcare professional leaders around to ask questions or advice from. Being a new nurse and a new nurse leader is a huge responsibility to take on.

Listening to all the positive feedback I received from my nurse leader about her position really made me believe that this is a role I can potentially take on down the line in my career. It reinforced that I don’t need to have many years of experience to become a leader, I can use the skills I developed throughout my life to emulate a leader. The interview process changed my thoughts on how difficult it really can be to become a leader. There are so many challenges leaders face because every person and situation is different. There isn’t a single method to problem solving. Throughout my future career I plan to utilize the knowledge I received from my nurse leader in every aspect of my nursing career. I believe by doing so I will become a great leader, official title or not. Being a nurse on the floor that co-workers feel comfortable asking advice from is a goal of mine one day.