Transformational Leadership in Nursing

One of the main goals of leaders in the nursing/healthcare industry is to create a high-
quality nursing workforce that is performance-oriented (Renjith, Renu & George, 2015).
Nurse leaders use various leadership styles to achieve this goal. One of the most common of
these leadership styles is transformational leadership. James Mac Gregor Burns defined
transformational leadership as a style that involves leaders raising both the motivations and
aspirations of others through appealing to higher values and ideals (Renjith, Renu & George,
2015). The style is grounded on four components that are interdependent. The four
components upon which transformational leadership is based on are inspirational motivation,
idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. When these
components are harmonized, they result in high performance by the nursing workforce that
exceeds the expectations of the healthcare organization.

Transformational leadership can be used to address one of the biggest challenges in
nursing and healthcare in general – surgical and medication errors. According to Vaismoradi
et al. (2016), medication and surgical errors are avoidable events that may lead to patient
harm or inappropriate medication use. Some of the common surgical and medication errors
include administering too much or too little medication, such as anesthesia, performing
incision at the wrong location, and leaving items, such as sponges in bodies of patients. As a
medical-surgical nurse who currently in an orthopedic-surgical unit and who has previously
worked in units, such as intensive care unit (ICU) and Progressive Care Unit (PCU), I have
witnessed the immense harm that surgical and medication errors do patients. Apart from
distress and discomfort, surgical and medical errors force patients to spend more time in
hospital and pay higher hospital bills. In worst case scenarios, they lead to death. In fact, it is
estimated that surgical and medication errors cause more American deaths than HIV/AIDS

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and even motor accidents (Vaismoradi et al., 2016). Even if the patient does not die, studies
have shown surgical and medication errors often result in low quality of life for the patient
after the operation (Bari, Khan, & Rathore, 2016). Therefore, the problem of surgical and
medication errors in nursing practice is one that nursing and healthcare leadership needs to
address.

Nurse leaders play an important role in risk management and provision of nurses that
are safe and competent. The leadership style that the nurse leader employs plays a key role in
determining whether they are able to achieve both of these goals. Transformational nurse
leaders motivate nurses to provide safe and quality care through role modelling, guidance,
and appeal to deeper values and morals. They also provide a supportive environment that
enables nurses to provide safe care to patients. Studies have shown that the use of
transformational leadership is associated with more job satisfaction and less burnout and
stress which lead to safer care of patients (Vaismoradi et al., 2016). Thus, employing
transformational leadership in nursing practice is a great way of reducing surgical and
medication errors.

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References

Bari, A., Khan, R. A., & Rathore, A. W. (2016). Medical errors; causes, consequence,
emotional response, and resulting behavioral change. Pakistan Journal of Medical
Sciences, 32(3), 523-528.

Renjith, V., Renu, G., & George, A. (2015). Transformational leadership in
nursing. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management Studies, 2(2),
112-118.

Vaismoradi, M., Griffiths, P., Turunen, H., & Jordan, S. (2016). Transformational leadership
in nursing and medication safety education: a discussion paper. Journal of nursing
management, 24(7), 970-980. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12387