Nurse Power Distance

Impact of Surgical Nurse Practitioner on Power Distance There is a high power distance that exists within surgical teams between surgeons and nurses. The power distance creates problems in communication within the team. That miscommunication can place the patient’s health and wellbeing at risk. One small mistake during surgery can have extremely negative consequences. Through the implementation of a surgical nurse practitioner into the surgical team, the perceptions of a high power distance within the team should fade resulting in more effective communication.
Power Distance Defined There are two categories of power distance: low power distance and high power distance. In a low power distance culture, there is not a great difference between high-ranking

Nurses would learn about subculture’s unspoken rules and standards by receiving strong disapproval. Other members of the hospitals attempt to place new nurses into a category of behavior and if the new nurses try to expand beyond that, they will be ridiculed and harshly judged by fellow nurses and superiors (Kim, 2016). They will also learn through observation within the setting. The new nurses would view the nurses with poor behavior berated by superior nurses or employees. Then, they would learn the correct behavior from watching the behavior of nurses that would not receive a verbal onslaught (Kim, 2016). In the second stage, the nurses would remain silent in several situations where they have an opportunity to voice their opinion. They found that it is safer for their job security to remain silent in those circumstances (Kim, 2016). They would also preserve culture by minimizing their distress. It would involve attempting to find positives within the negatives of a situation. The tactic would allow the nurse to continue to push through all the adversity they are facing at work (Kim,