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18: “Nursing” Is Not Just About Nurses … Nor Is “Leadership” Just About Leaders

DOI:

10.1891/9780826108678.0018

Authors

  • Reistad, Scott

Abstract

Scott Reistad is a storyteller, and throughout his entry he entertains readers with his unconventional ideas about nursing and about leadership. In today’s health care, there is a tendency to consider “nursing” as the work of a person who is a registered nurse (RN). It has been said that all employees in hospitals are caring for patients, either directly or indirectly. There are the individuals who deliver direct patient care and those who support those who give the direct patient care. Betsy Sanders, a former Nordstrom executive, states that often the lowest paid, shortest-tenured, entry-level employees have more interaction with the patients than the leaders. “Nursing” leaders have a tendency to have read thousands of pages of textbooks about the technical aspects of their job. Yet they get promoted into leadership and believe that they should just magically know what to do to lead effectively.