The Importance Of Expert Power In Nursing

Everyone has power. A lot of health care workers including nurses like to think that they cannot change the way things are being carried out in the health care system. Nurses make up the largest group of health care providers in todays health care system. We frequently hear of a demand for nurses and a nursing shortage occurring nationwide, meanwhile the numbers of nurses in the United States is growing. “There were an estimated 3,063,163 licensed registered nurses living in the United States, as of March 2008. This is an increase in the RN population of 5.3 percent from March 2004, representing a net growth of 153,806 RNs. An estimated 444,668 RNs, or 14.5 percent of the RN population, received their first U.S. license from 2004 through

This nurse would be viewed as the nurse mentor and shares past learning experiences to benefit others. The expert power nurse is able to guide the way for new nurses giving examples of both negative and positive past clinical endeavors and ways to deal and learn from their experiences. Nurses should share their knowledge and resources daily with patients and other coworkers. Also, the expert power is the basis for collaborating and for advocating for patients, employees, and the health care system. The experience from the expert power provides nurses with knowledge, background, and credibility to speak out on health care issues. Nurses are hands on with the patients and see the impacts of the problems in today’s health care system, such as shortages, cutting costs, and nurses “eating their young” and have the knowledge to speak out. Nurses also have the knowledge and the possible solutions to be directly involved in achieving policy and health care goals. The down side to expert power is the fact that the expert’s opinion may weight heavier on the decision than the opinion of another. An example of expert power in today’s nursing would be anyone working above the nurse and also the more “seasoned nurses”

Legitimate power is defined as “power coming from having a position of importance in an organization, such as being the boss or a key member of a leadership team. This power comes when employees in the organization recognize the authority of the individual.” (Kubsch) An example of legitimate power would be the nurses working under certified nursing licenses granted by each nurse’s State Board of Nursing. They passed their boards and earned the power and responsibility that accompanies the registered nurse’s job title and work description. The rights and responsibilities that come with that license give the nurse standing in the health care community and the authority to speak out on nursing and health care issues. With the titles that are bestowed, legitimacy can also be revoked. In the case of the registered nurse, their nursing license can be revoked on many different bases; the following are some of the more common reasons nursing license are revoked or suspended in the state of Pennsylvania. “The Board may refuse, suspend or revoke any license in any case where the Board shall find that: negligent or incompetent in the practice of professional nursing, unable to practice professional nursing with reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of mental or physical illness or condition or physiological or psychological dependence upon alcohol, hallucinogenic or narcotic drugs