Running head: CLINICAL CARE COORDINATOR

Interview and Analysis of a Clinical Care Coordinator

Kelli A Kerschenheiter
Staci K Simonelli
Ferris State University

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Interview and Analysis of a Clinical Care Coordinator
The purpose of this paper is to gain perspective of the nursing leadership role, and
discover how it impacts patient outcomes. In order to gain insight, an interview with Sarah
Powers RN, a Clinical Care Coordinator at Diamondale Nursing Care Center in Diamondale,
Michigan, was conducted on March 16, 2016. Sarah started her healthcare career with EMT and
Paramedic training. She worked in this field for three years before deciding to go back to school
to get her Associates degree in Nursing. She plans to start taking classes for her Bachelors of
Science in nursing in the near future. After graduating from Lansing Community College, she
worked as a registered nurse at a long-term acute care hospital for seven years. Sarah took a
summer off before returning to work as a Clinical Care Manager at Dimondale Nursing Care
Center, where she has been working for over two years.
Job Description and Responsibilities
Powers role as a unit manager and clinical care coordinator include a number of
responsibilities. She is obligated to being on call and remaining available at all times.
Admissions into the unit are based upon her approval. Powers trains the staff on new medical
equipment, educates the patients and staff on surgical wounds and wound vacs, performs the
wound care, attends to family members, places medication orders in a timely manner, and also
monitors and sorts out medication orders and reconciliation. One of the biggest responsibilities
she possesses is simply her admirable assessment skills. Long term care facilities are very
different than a hospital or acute care setting. The doctors in her facility come in three times a
week, but are only required to see patients within 48 hours of admission and once a month
thereafter. Her assessment skills must be very detailed and nothing can be overlooked. It is her

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responsibility to recognize a decline in health or a new finding so the doctor can be contacted
and brought in to assess the patient further.
Powers reports to and falls directly under her supervisor, the director of nursing. The
director of nursing ultimately has the say of what happens in any nursing matter. The
administrator of the facility is in charge of the finances and social work, but does not have
authority in the nursing care given. The regular staff nurses, charge nurses, and certified nursing
assistants (CNAs) all report to Powers. Powers also has an assistant who helps her manage
paperwork and provide any other assistance she may need.
Communication and Collaboration
Communication is a crucial aspect for any leader. The American Organization of Nurse
Executives (2015) set up competencies for nurse leaders to follow. Some of the competencies for
communication that Powers meets are effective communication, relationship management
through building trust among the people on her unit, and relationship building between nurses
and physicians. It is discussed below how Powers is able to meet these competencies. The way
Powers chooses to communicate with her staff is by face-to-face meetings. This communication
may be one-on-one or in a large group meeting. She believes this is the most effective way to
bounce ideas off of each other, build trust, and create an open professional relationship. She
does however use text messages to communicate work matters with staff members who are not
working at the time. Also, one of her ways to remind staff of important upcoming dates is with
flyers. Communication with the physicians is very important. She accentuates the importance of
getting to the point and not being afraid to express your concerns or recommendations with the
doctors.

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Powers really emphasizes the importance of the CNAs and the significant amount of
teamwork used on the floor. The CNAs see the patients the most out of anyone on the unit and
she believes they should be recognized. Powers offers incentives such as parties and gifts to
motivate teamwork among staff. She remains a respected leader by helping out the CNAs and
other nurses and never asking them to do something she would not do herself. She gives them
consideration and respect. If she has time to do the task, she does it herself instead of passing it
off onto someone else. According to Likert's theory, the highest producing managers operate
within a participative system. In this system, there is a high degree of group loyalty with
favorable attitudes and trust among peers, subordinates and superiors. Group problem solving,
personal interactions and high levels of consideration also are present (Moss & Rowles, 1997).
Powers operates within this participative system which enhances her trust among staff.
Quality Improvement and Risk Management
One of the biggest areas Powers implements quality improvement is with falls. The
elderly population is already at an increased risk for falls, especially when you take into
consideration the medications they are taking. She takes part in an investigation to get to the root
cause of the fall and makes changes accordingly. She participates in meetings every week that
discuss the protocols in place to reduce falls. Powers helps decipher through the best
interventions. For example, a patient might be moved closer to the nursing station if they were a
frequent faller. Powers uses multiple strategies to maintain the safety of the patients. A
multifactorial fall prevention program has potential for positive impact on fall rates. No single
strategy will be effective and staff adherence to the interventions is key to the success of the
program (DiBardino, Cohen, & Didwania, 2012). Nurse-led safety strategies and interventions
can be successful in improving fall rates (Tzeng & Yin, 2008).

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5
Ethics and Advocacy

Ethics prevails as one of the biggest challenges in the nursing field. This is no different
for Powers working in a long term care facility. One of the ways she ensures an ethical practice
is by involving the social worker frequently. Her facility does not have an ethics committee as
most hospitals do. However, if the patient goes to the hospital, the hospitals ethics committee
may step in. Powers discussed how they have quite a few issues with full code patients who
should not necessarily be a full code. She can make recommendations, but that is about as far as
she can take it. Advocacy is also a tremendous concern of hers. Powers is a huge advocator for
her patients and staff. She believes as a nurse, advocating for patients is her biggest job.
Speaking up for the patient is her responsibility, no matter what situation it might put her in.
This means that taking the path of least resistance, and agreeing to everything is not necessarily
an option. As a leader in the nursing field, she is in a key position to advocate for appropriate
change and also in a key position to challenge and to renegotiate inappropriate requests (Proehl
& Hoyt, 2015).
Leadership Style
Yoder-Wise (2015) outlines several leader traits that Powers has obtained over her two
years at Diamondale. These traits include valuing commitments and relationships with staff,
demonstrating positivity in the workplace, and providing a clear vision and goal for the
workplace. As mentioned above Powers really values the staff that falls under her and tries to
give them the recognition they deserve. Powers demonstrates positivity in the workplace by
promoting teamwork and effective communication between staff, residents, and other
management. Powers also rewards staff for their positive outcomes to assure that these standards

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are upheld. Finally, Powers provides a clear vision for her units. Powers wants the staff to all
work harmoniously among each other, and she does everything she can to assure this happens.
There are also many different leadership styles for management to follow. Powers follows
and affiliative leadership. The affiliative leader strives to keep employees happy and to create
harmony among them, (Goleman, 2000). Powers demonstrates this leadership style by gaining
her staffs trust and respects through working alongside them. Powers focuses on keeping her
staff happy by offering positive feedback and incentives at work. This leadership style has many
benefits that are needed in a long term care setting. It allows for open communication and good
teamwork. However, there are drawbacks to this leadership style that Powers does overcome.
The main downfall to this style of leadership is the focus on praising the employees can allow for
poor employee performance to go unseen (Goleman, 2000). Powers is able to overcome this
because of the trusting relationship she has built with staff. Powers has created such a trusting
bond that constructive criticism is also important to her and the staff on her unit to utilize.
Staff Management
A leadership role brings the responsibility of staff management. The facility Powers
works in is located in a very rural area. The staff often has a difficult time finding a way into
work. They contracted a limousine company to take them into work and changed the shifts to
twelve hour shifts in order to accommodate them. They also offered large pay differentials to the
inconvenient shifts. Powers played a role in developing these strategies and also includes the
staff with every change implemented at Diamondale. Engaging staff in the identification of
problems and development of solutions has been shown to enhance commitment to the process
and investment in achieving outcomes (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2015).
Conclusion

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In order to be a successful leader, one must possess multiple qualities and retain the
respect of their subordinates. Great leaders encompass honesty, integrity, and humility. Powers
embodies these traits and remains a humble and respected leader. She brings out the best in her
coworkers and continuously pushes them to do better. Powers incorporates professionalism,
communication, business skills, knowledge of health care environment, advocacy, and ethics into
her nursing leadership role. By remaining a successful leader, she provides positive patient
outcomes and improves patient satisfaction.

References:
American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2015). Nurse executive competencies:
System CNE. Retrieved from http://www.aone.org/resources/nec-system-cne.pdf

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DiBardino, D., Cohen, E., & Didwania, A. (2012). Meta-analysis: Multidisciplinary fall
prevention strategies in the acute care inpatient population. Journal of Hospital Medicine,
7(6), 497-503. doi:10.1002/jhm.1917
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review, 78-91. Retrieved
from http://elibrary.kiu.ac.ug:8080/jspui/bitstream/1/480/1/Leadership%20That%20Gets
%20Results.pdf
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2015). Resources: changes for improvement. Retrieved
from http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Changes/default.aspx. Accessed July 7, 2015
Moss, R., & Rowles, C. J. (1997). Staff nurse job satisfaction and management style. Nursing
Proehl, J. A., & Hoyt, K. S. (2015). Keeping It Real: Advocating for Patients and Nurses.
Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal, 37(3), 147-148 2p.
doi:10.1097/TME.0000000000000072
Tzeng, H., & Yin, C. (2008). Nurses' solutions to prevent inpatient falls in hospital patient rooms.
Nursing Economics, 26(3), 179.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2015). Leading and Managing in Nursing (6th ed., p. 56). St. Louis, MI:
Elsevier.