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All Nurses Are Leaders

Featured Author:

Laura Wisniewski, RN

Laura Wisniewski RN is an educator, speaker and writer with 25 years of front line nursing experience. Her company, Nursing Voice Communications, provides empowering, solution-oriented presentations on nursing workforce issues. Her articles encourage and challenge nurses to improve healthcare.

See all of Laura’s featured articles here.

To learn more about Laura, please visit her website.

More articles from this author:

• How to Score in Your Nursing Career
• Nursing as a Second Career
• Immediate Openings: Role Models and Mentors

8. HEROIC

“In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

The literal meaning of the word hero is protector, defender or guardian. To be heroic is having or displaying the character or attributes of a hero such as being extraordinarily bold, altruistic, and determined.

9. INTUITIVE

“It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea.” – Jonas Salk

Intuition is insight or understanding of a situation that cannot be explained logically. It is often described as a “gut feeling”. According to nursing expert Patricia Benner, “Intuition is not the lack of knowledge; rather it is a result of “deep” knowledge.”

10. PURPOSE DRIVEN

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” – Robert Byrne

According to the American Nurses Association, “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.” It is difficult to imagine a more significant life purpose than becoming a nurse.

A Quiet Night

Katie graduated nursing school three years ago and works the night shift on a busy telemetry unit in a community hospital. Tonight is her big night…her first time in charge. She had been trained and mentored for this moment by her nurse manager John. He consistently expressed confidence in her abilities and encouraged Katie to take on new challenges. As Katie clocked in that evening, she drew a deep breath and said a silent prayer, “I hope that it will be a quiet night tonight.” While making out the patient assignments she discovered that they would be working a nurse short; which meant that she would be carrying a full patient load in addition to her charge responsibilities. However, she knew and trusted the team that she would be working with.