Collaborative Leadership

Cassaundra Braden

To me, collaborative leadership involves the coming together of many aspects of the
health care field for the greater good of the patient. It incorporates every individual involved in a
patients plan of care working as one to improve the situation. Collaborative leadership is part of
my everyday work. I work with my fellow nurses, my CNAs, the physicians, residents, clinical
care coordinators, social work, and anyone whose input I value.
Through the course of my BSN program I have gained an increased appreciation for the
ability to collaborate with my health care team. When I started this program I worked in long
term care and the number of professionals I had to collaborate with was small as was my
understanding of the benefits of working together and communicating. After the program some
of the projects I completed I realized how much of an asset my co-workers are. I now work in a
progressive and intensive care unit and require communication with numerous health care
professionals to provide excellent care to my patients. This program taught me the importance of
this skill while my practice grew to need it. The following two assignments helped me the most
in my development of collaborative leadership skills.
For my project on central line associated blood stream infections I was a project leader
working with different members of the health care team at my facility to work towards initiation
of alcohol caps for central lines to decrease infection. This was my first experience leading a
team and was the final push to solidify my understanding in the importance of collaborating for
the greater good of the patient.