The application of leadership principles in nursing is less about being the person “in charge,” and more about the willingness to follow the ethical principles of nursing no matter what the situation. By demonstrating a willingness to provide only safe, quality care and utilize evidence-based standards of practice, the nurse becomes a role model and leader in the meticulousness of his or her practice. The best leaders are those who demonstrate not only the fearlessness of approaching change with an open mind, they also take the minutia of day to day practice with great seriousness and a sense of duty and calling. My work in Professional Roles and Values served to reinforce my definition of leadership. I have always taken the ethical role I serve as a nurse seriously. In combining the philosophy of care, best practice, and solid ethics, I seek to provide knowledgeable and principled care.

In my Leadership and Professional Image coursework, I was able to develop a project to improve my practice. This application of seeking evidence based data and focusing on population health in my work as a school nurse helped me to develop a plan using online and social media services for better patient/population outreach. Using the core foundation of my chosen nursing philosophy as framework, I built an outreach plan utilizing evidence to come up with a cost effective but comprehensive beneficial intervention to reach my students and their families. In performing this, I feel I showed true leadership, with this artifact as evidence.

My Leadership and Professional Image artifact shows my ability to engage with different populations as I move forward in my nursing career. It shows that I am able to lead both the individual and group population as a whole since becoming a school based nurse focused more on public health. By assimilating that dynamic into my daily practice, I’ve shown the principled, ethical care that guided me in the acute care setting and applied it to my new role. Whether with an individual student, or thinking about the health and wellness of my population, I bring my leadership to the table with innovative thinking, safe care, evidence-based standards, and a great sense of duty and calling.

One thing my transition to school nursing has taught me, is that collaboration is essential. As the only health provider in a building of approximately 1400 people, I’ve learned this year that it is often only I that has a medical perspective in my workplace. Administrators, educators, parents, and students all look to me to help them understand medicine in the 21st century. In this way, I’ve become the leader I never expected to be.