Applied Leadership is exactly what I learned in my Professional Roles and Values Course and while completing my Leadership Learning Experience. To me, applied leadership is taking an idea or theory and applying it through leadership in my place of work.  In my Professional Roles and Values course I learned how to develop my Professional Mission Statement. At the time I was an OR nurse and my mission statement coincided with that specific nursing role.

“To enhance the health and healing of all patients within my care to the best of my ability as if they were family and without prejudice, to always have a surgical conscience and be considerate of my patients’ privacy and well-being while under sedation, and to always uphold my co-workers and collaborators to the same standard.”

Now in my role as a Home Health Nurse, I would adjust the mission statement slightly with the same underlying idea.

“To enhance the health and healing of all patients within my care to the best of my ability as if they were family, without prejudice, to always have a conscience and be considerate of my patients’ privacy and well-being, and to always uphold my coworkers and collaborators to the same standard.”

My Professional Mission Statement is a very concise way of explaining how I will conduct myself as nurse. I will use this mission statement to guide me throughout my career as a reminder of how I should treat my patients, that I should always hold myself to the highest standard, and also that I should always hold my associates to the highest standard. I believe wholeheartedly that if you fill your mind with positive thoughts, those thoughts will manifest into reality. I will use this mission statement as an outline for my nursing practice, adding things along the way to help me evolve into a better nurse.

Collaboration is key to my role as a nurse. Whether communicating with patients, doctors, fellow nurses or other inter-professionals, I must collaborate efficiently and effectively to best do my job and create a positive outcome for my patients. It is even more important when in a leadership role. I experienced this firsthand when working with stakeholders at my company during my Leadership Learning Experience. Without collaboration with the stakeholders and my fellow nurses, the project would never had succeeded. I needed to communicate with them and gain their respect in order to decide on a topic, create a plan, and present the final presentation.