Assertiveness Case Study

Responsible Factors for Lack of Assertiveness among Professional Nurses in Nigeria

Background

Assertiveness has developed as a successful moderator of stress for the nursing understudy populace. Being assertive implies that you communicate effectively and remain up for your perspective, while respecting the rights and convictions of others (Eldeeb, Eid and Eldosoky, 2014). The ability to provide a suitable and assertive response in critical or dangerous situations is a vital skill and a lifesaver for patients (Larijani et al. 2010). As a result of the positive aftereffects of assertiveness, it is considered as one of the valuable practices in the field of Nursing (LARIJANI et al., 2010). To be effective, it is essential that nurses are able

The answer to this question is included in many of the definitions of assertiveness- standing up for one's perspectives. Although Nurse Smith did not want to work an extra shift, her lack of assertiveness made her fail to decline the matron’s request.

The last question, which forms the basis of this review of literature, was why Nurse Smith was not assertive. The search strategy thus aimed at finding out the factors that are responsible for the lack of assertiveness among nurses. As a result, the following primary search terms were used; ‘Assertiveness in Nursing’, ‘Lack of assertiveness in Nursing’ and most significantly ‘Factors related to lack of assertiveness in Nursing’.

The three search terms were put in the Google Scholar search engine. This was aimed at identifying the most relevant study titles and to locate their corresponding journal databases. A total of 158 articles appeared in the Google Scholar search results. However, among these only 50 research articles had relevant titles to the topic under research. Subsequently the other 108 articles were ignored. The identified databases in which the 50 selected articles were published included Wiley Online Library, Taylor & Francis and Springer Science. Consequently the three search engines were searched in the above

A higher cadre nurse understands the rationales for the decisions or practices he/she undertakes.Therefore, it won’t be difficult to defend their perspectives concerning the care of a patient or anything that impacts on the quality of care provided to the patient. If the level of education is low, the knowledge/ understanding of both clinical and nursing leadership concepts is not optimum. This facilitates the lack of assertiveness (Hagbaghery, Salsali and Ahmadi, 2004; Garon 2012).

Organizational Structure The organizational structure and most importantly the leadership style employed by the managers in the clinical setting influence the exhibition of assertiveness by the subordinates. If the manager is the ‘control-type’ and aims to create fear among the subjects,assertiveness will be impaired (Garon 2012; Curtis, Tzannes & Rudge, 2011). This is a poor leadership style as far as nurturing o assertiveness is concerned. Had the leadership style in the case reflection (Appendix A) encouraged assertiveness, Nurse Smith would have declined the request and the death of the patient would have been possibly