You have recently started a position as a department director with five managers reporting to you. Earlier today, one

You have recently started a position as a department director with five managers reporting to you. Earlier today, one of your managers reports that a client expired on her unit. She suspects that a factor that may have contributed to the client’s demise may be related to the actions of a nurse on her unit. This nurse has several notes in her personnel file that reflect potential client abuse. You and the nurse manager both have concerns that this sentinel event must be investigated.

Later in the day, the Chief Nursing Officer asks you to speak to new nurse managers to share attributes of leadership with the plan of enhancing their leadership skills. You see an opportunity to combine the situation of the client with a bad outcome, due to the alleged influence of one of the nurses, while building information to share this real-life situation with new nurse leaders.

Instructions

As a follow-up to the investigation of the client’s unexpected death, generate an internal memo to your managers to reflect leadership and management attributes and include steps taken to investigate this unfortunate situation. As you create this memo, keep in mind that you should include:

• At least five leadership and/or management attributes for nurse leaders, as well as how they can improve client outcomes.
• Steps you would take to ensure the collection of data regarding this incident.
• Describe how transformational leadership style may influence the process of investigating this professional nurse colleague that reports to one of your unit managers.