Nursing leadership is essential in the clinical settings. It plays a big role in the development of the nurses as an individual and as a profession. With nursing leadership, management skills are beneficial; nurse leaders are accountable in empowering, influencing, motivating and advocating for the nursing staff and patients. There is a common denomination between the nursing staff providing nursing care in patient satisfaction as an effect on clinical outcome with the nursing leadership. In this discussion paper, the importance of nursing leadership in the health care system and its definition will be conferred. The applicability in the clinical setting and its several effects on nursing staff and patient outcomes will also be discussed. …show more content…

1 reason people are leaving their job is job dissatisfaction, this causes high rate of nurses leaving their positions. The shortage is impacting on the quality health care for patients. Likewise, skills mix results in a high number of junior staff nurses with lacking senior nurses to supervise them (Garling, 2008). Therefore, the need for efficient leaders in nursing is essential to support junior nursing staff at the same time maintaining retention of senior staff. Safe, effective and ethical staffing is necessary for ensuring that a sufficient number and appropriate mix of competent nurses are available to maintain patient care (Fabre, 2009). Poor patient outcome relates to poor nurse staffing that increases mortality, morbidity and adverse incidents like falls (McPhee, Ellis & Sanchez, 2005).
Effectiveness of nursing leadership can also be measured between staff retention and recruitment through the leadership style being followed in its relation to addressing staffing issues and patient outcome. Arcee (2007) conducted a study comparing the relationship between two types of leadership style being transactional and transformational leadership style in retention of nursing staff, she concluded that the transformational leadership style that encompasses individualised support and consideration, influence and motivation, provision of practiced knowledge and