Nursing Concept Analysis

Abstract
Self awareness is almost like a puzzle, we must dive deep within ourselves to find the pieces of that best fits who we are. This must be done in order to be effective in our lives holistically. The American Nurse Association Code of Ethics for Nurses (2001) states “The nurse owes the same duty to self as to others…” As nurses and leaders we must place the magnifying glass on ourselves and become more observant of self. Ten Hoopen & Trompenaars, (2009) defines those characteristics of enlightened leadership when there is an awaking of awareness and the stance of a leader. Competency can allow leaders to build and maintain self-confidence and self esteem.
When we become more self-aware we are able to practice more effectively as we are better able to recognize what we know and where our limitations are, which may improve our ability to intervene in certain situations. We can then start to use ourselves more consciously, choose to act rather than feeling acted upon (Jack, K. & Miller, E., 2008). During this concept analysis, Walker and Avant’s (2005) method will be used to help explain the meaning of self-awareness and to define the attributes of self awareness in nursing leadership.
Key words: self-awareness, leadership, competency model, nursing leadership, concept
Maslow’s created four stages of competence/learning process which allows an individual to assess what they know and don’t know (see Table 1). The four stages are unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. In some instances some people has revised Maslow’s original four stages to add a “suggested fifth staged” called various name. I found several; mastery, reflective competence and conscious competence of unconscious incompetence. During this analysis I will only focus on the original four created by Maslow which is explained in detail