4830+Leadership+Moment

West Leadership Moment The following leadership moment occurred during the evening shift at writer’s place of employment when writer was still a LPN. One of the other LPNs had gone to the dining room to get something for a resident. On her way out of the dining room her foot slipped, she fell hitting her eye on the corner of a table and her head on the floor. The writer was called stat to the dining room by a person who believed writer would take charge of the situation. The LPN was trying to sit up and insisting she was alright. Writer requested she lie back down (a nurse assistant had gotten her a pillow) and allow writer to assess her. Although she checked out neurologically she had a rather large amount of swelling around her eye and writer informed her she would be taking a trip to the local emergency room. The LPN was insistent on not going mostly due to embarrassment. Writer sat with her and explained why she needed to go and that she shouldn’t feel embarrassed. Writer told her how important she was to us and that we did not want her to have any lingering problems that could have been avoided by an emergency room assessment. The LPN was finally persuaded she would benefit from going to the emergency room. Unbeknownst to the LPN the ambulance had already been summoned. In this situation the writer was a leader. Staff called for the person they felt would remain level headed and yet perform an accurate assessment of the circumstance. Staff already knew writer to be dependable in a crisis. Supporting staff followed writer’s instructions to bring vital sign equipment, a cold compress and call for the ambulance in an efficient manner without alerting the injured nurse. The staff trusted this writer’s skills as a nurse and as a leader and acted without question. The leader’s goal and the followers’ goals were the same and we accomplished it without fail due to clear communication between all parties involved. Needless to say the LPN went to the emergency room and was found to have fractured the bones around her eye and no other permanent or life threatening injury. She did recuperate from her embarrassment and thanked the writer and supporting staff for assisting her and deterring her from making a poor decision.