NSN830 Leadership in Nursing

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This core unit provides students with an opportunity to explore the influence that global and national health trends have on nursing practice and leadership. You will expand your knowledge of the principles of leadership and leadership styles, and learn skills that can be applied in situations relevant to your workplace and role as a nurse leader within intra- and interprofessional teams.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Critically analyse the influence of global and national health issues on nursing practice and leadership
2. Integrate evidence-based leadership strategies that adhere to regulatory requirements to deliver flexible nursing services
3. Utilise leadership knowledge and techniques to advocate for legal, ethical, and culturally safe professional practice
4. Adapt and justify your communication approach including digitally enhanced techniques to suit a given context
5. Evaluate individual performance and provide constructive feedback to peers to inform sustainable practice change

Content

Learning Approaches

In this unit, you will learn through engaging in the following: 

• Workshops (online and/or face-to-face) to support knowledge development and academic literacy skills
• Online self-directed learning
• Peer review/feedback
• Individual research and readings, and
• Collaborative activities.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback in this unit is provided to you through the following: 

• Formative feedback through student engagement in workshops and activities
• Comments and grading via rubrics on summative assessment 
• Feedback from peers.

Assessment

Overview

There are three summative assessments in this unit. 

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Online quiz

The quiz will assess your knowledge and understanding of the following key concepts:

• Leadership styles and applications of frameworks to a variety of situations
• Cultural safety principles and advocating for equality 
• Recognising resources within your organisation and more broadly 

Assessment: Problem solving task

You will be provided with a series of case studies that explore concepts that have been addressed throughout the semester.  You will be asked to provide a short answer response that identifies the concerns raised in the case and explain your approach to address each using supportive contemporary literature and evidence.

Topics may include: Rostering, Staff ratios, Performance management concerns, Staff Morale, Decision support system.

You will be asked to:

• Identify and prioritise the concerns  
• Consider impact on all people involved
• discuss legislative and or moral/ ethical impact and requirements
• offer solutions to address the concern

Assessment: Difficult conversations/role play

This assessment consists of 2 parts, firstly a recorded interaction managing a difficult conversation and a peer review of a difficult conversation.

You will be provided with a hypothetical scenario of a difficult conversation.  You will be asked to role play the scenario with a colleague or peer to address the key concerns.  The interaction will be audio-visually recorded and uploaded to Canvas for marking.   

Each student will then review and provide constructive feedback based on a matrix and free text to another student. 

Scenarios may include  

• performance management
• conflict resolution
• interdepartmental interactions  
• advocating in an interprofessional group  

Students will demonstrate the ability to

• use knowledge of principles and or theory of leadership to address a concern 
• use cultural safe principles while reaching an effective solution or resolution to a problem
• effectively support people of diverse cultural backgrounds  
• use legislation and policies to support safe nursing practice 

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks associated with the general conduct of this unit.

Course Learning Outcomes

NS32 Graduate Certificate in Nursing

1. Demonstrate and apply advanced health care knowledge and skills in a specialist nursing area.
   Relates to: Online quiz, Difficult conversations/role play
2. Critically analyse, evaluate, and reflect on specialist nursing knowledge, evidence and practice to improve patient care and health outcomes. 
   Relates to: Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play
3. Use evidence-based theories and frameworks to inform emerging leadership practice in nursing and interprofessional collaborations. 
   Relates to: Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play
4. Communicate complex evidence-based knowledge through education, professional communication, and a range of digital technologies.
   Relates to: Difficult conversations/role play
5. Reflect on ethical, sustainable and culturally safe practices that embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and diverse perspectives to improve person-centred care. 
   Relates to: Online quiz, Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play

NS60 Graduate Diploma in Nursing

1. Apply advanced health care knowledge and skills including digital literacy in a specialist nursing area.
   Relates to: Online quiz, Difficult conversations/role play
2. Critically analyse evidence and apply theories and frameworks to inform decision-making in advanced nursing practice.
   Relates to: Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play
3. Communicate complex evidence-based knowledge through education, professional communication and a range of digital technologies.
   Relates to: Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play
4. Reflect on ethical, sustainable and culturally safe practices that embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and diverse perspectives to improve person-centred care.
   Relates to: Online quiz, Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play

NS95 Master of Nursing

1. Apply advanced knowledge and skills to manage and improve nursing practices across diverse and complex contexts to improve health outcomes and service provision.
   Relates to: Online quiz, Difficult conversations/role play
2. Critically analyse evidence to inform decision-making in advanced nursing and interprofessional care contexts. 
   Relates to: Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play
3. Communicate complex evidence-based findings through professional dissemination using a range of digital technologies. 
   Relates to: Difficult conversations/role play
4. Initiate, lead and reflect on collaborative practice that advocates for ethically and culturally safe care enabling sustainable health service delivery that embeds a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and diverse perspectives.
   Relates to: Online quiz, Problem solving task, Difficult conversations/role play