Engaging New Competencies
Now, more than three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses,
healthcare workers, academics, and policymakers akin are still figuring out its full implications on systemic professional astuteness, mental health and health equity. New competencies for recruitment and retention is critical.
Great leadership comes with the expectation that those who take on the agenda are goal-oriented, critical thinkers, and can articulate their mission and vision to all agencies under their command. On the other hand, ineffective leadership, is the gridlock for any attempt at new pathways and competencies in nursing. The profession is working in a deficit on every level and the cost is high.
With recruitment and retention at the top of the list for a thriving workforce, nursing is facing unprecedented challenges as it fights to attract and keep top talent. It is important that these challenges be met head on with investments in mentorship, sponsorship and non-traditional competencies to motivate nurse managers. The presence of competent leaders in mid-level management can have astounding results on an increasing demand for personnel with limited resources. The nurse manager role can help us materialize sustainable change.
Historically the only mandatory celebration of a professional nurse’s role has been that of Florence Nightingale. With the exception of nurses of color, the validity of the nurse manager role has been lost in the trenches of time particularly in the wake of a global pandemic. Furthermore, diversity can’t be underscored enough in reaffirming the importance of this role in recruitment and retention.
New competencies matter for any field of inquiry that is soaked in theory and evidenced-based practice. It is important to take new flights on new planes that create equitable and inclusive destinations. Nurse management has the ability to pilot progressive and democratic expeditions through cultural pipelines, multidiscipline networks, social engagement and political associations. All of this not to suggest a retreat to temporary change but a long-term ability to sustain it.
“The nurse manager role can help us materialize sustainable change."
As social and political policies continue to develop around the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing and medical organizations have been instrumental in deriving purpose and legitimacy from it. The elevated compulsory effort toward innovation and media engagement have been avenues to explore, receive and even imitate in the name of change. Has it been beneficial to those who need it the most? Has it improved the working conditions of those employed?
The endurance of the nursing profession as a diverse and social construct is largely dependent on the people. The nucleus of the people of nursing is the nurse manager. Although there might be debates about the validity of this position, there is not debate about their connection to the people, their competency and retention.
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