Revised: To Be A Leader In Perinatal Nursing

DOCUMENT STATEMENT: Editing this essay was easier than I thought it would be. Coming into the revision process, I thought that I was going to have to completely re-vamp my essay from top to bottom; grammar and content-wise. When it comes to writing literary pieces, I always strive to do my best the first time so whenever I go back and edit after some peer/teacher review, I wouldn’t have to edit too much. This is a writing tactic that I am trying to let go of and remind myself that first drafts and never perfect- a piece deserves to be edited an endless amount of time until it has received the desired perfection.

Writing this essay was great for me because it was about a topic that I really care about: my future career as a perinatal nurse. I personally didn’t have any difficulties when editing this piece and I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned these past few weeks when revising future essays.

Jade Walters

Prof. Crystal Stuvland

ENGW 104-15

1 October 2017 [Revised: Feb . 2018]

To Be a Leader in Perinatal Nursing: A Rhetorical Analysis of Tillet’s “Mentoring Leaders In Perinatal Nursing

A nurse’s role is not inferior to the one of a doctor. They’re often given a plethora of tasks in a short amount of time for many patients. But they carry a huge presence in their unit and are typically the first person to care for a patient as they wait for their doctor. The pressure of their job molds some of them into leaders within their field. One of many nursing leaders, Jackie Tillet, authors the essay “Mentoring Leaders in Perinatal Nursing” published in 2014 in The Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, discusses the importance of mentoring hopeful leaders in perinatal care. Her audience consists of perinatal and neonatal nurses who aspire to move up in their unit, as well as older nurses who contain the knowledge on how to become a leader in the field that should share their wisdom with younger nurses who are willing to learn from them. Tillet develops her essay by using her credibility as a certified nurse midwife, citing articles from other perinatal nurses, and does a satisfactory job of emotionally appealing to aspiring perinatal nursing leaders; however, she lacks on discussing the specifics of becoming a leader within the perinatal field.

In her article, Tillet organizes her essay by discussing the different forms of leadership in nursing. She works her way up the nursing hierarchy, starting with the role of a bedside nurse to the end goal of becoming a nurse manager. By doing this, she emphasizes that there are different levels that one must go through to get to the top meaning that there are no shortcuts that can be taken. Tillet continues her point by saying that to move up in one’s unit, you must seek mentorship from someone above you because they have the wisdom that’ll be essential to your growth as someone who will possibly replace them when they’re gone. She also brings light to the acceptance one must have to challenges they’ll inevitably face as a new leader in the unit. These challenges may try to hold one back but Tillet urges the future leaders to remember that their team is relying on them and it’s important for them to fight through the backlash or criticism they’re receiving.

In her essay, Tillet effectively uses ethos to strengthen her stance on the mentorship of leaders in perinatal nursing. Jackie Tillet is a renowned nurse in her field. She has a doctorate of nursing degree, certification in nurse midwifery, and served as a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin. She’s published articles on pregnancy and childbirth topics and served on the board of the Milwaukee County Fetal Infant Mortality and the American College of Nurse Midwives. Her academic and expansive history within perinatal/neonatal care proves to the audience that she knows firsthand information on how to become a leader in the field. She also cites other members in the field that have written about perinatal nursing leadership such as LA Galsuka (“Cultivating nursing leadership for our envisioned future), A Ryan et al (“Wise Women: mentoring as relational learning in perinatal nursing practice.”), and RL Evans et al (“Role transitions for new clinical leaders in perinatal practice.”). By citing other articles, Tillet is strengthening her claim and showing readers that perinatal nursing leadership is a topic that is talked about by other nurses in the field.

Despite strong ethos appeals, Tillet lacks in the usage of logos in her article. An important fact that she discusses is that if there’s no room for growth in one’s field, a nurse will not strive to get better at their job especially when they’re content with their role: “Nurses who perceive no opportunities for growth in their environment do not perform at higher levels because they see no need to do this. The nurse who is satisfied and fulfilled in the staff position still needs professional challenges and interactions both to remain current in practice and to provide the best possible patient care.” (Tillet 4). Tillet concludes her point by acknowledging the consequences a unit could face by not engaging their nurses. But she should’ve provided factual evidence to back her claim and show the readers that she’s done her research. The lack of statistics in the article prohibits readers from understanding the importance of professional development in the perinatal field that could contribute to one’s desire to obtain a leadership role.

Tillet’s lack of pathos is greater than her lack of logos. There appears to be little to no emotional appeal in her essay with is an important aspect of mentorship and leadership. It could be argued that she uses pathos while discussing the challenges a nurse faces when entering a new leadership position. She discusses how other staff members in the unit may become jealous of the nurse for moving up: “The relationship with staff who were former colleagues may cause role stress…the new manager may feel isolated from former sources of support and camaraderie.” (Tillet 5). She furthers her point by saying that hiring a brand-new manager would still cause conflict on the floor because the staff may not be so welcoming to a new face and question why they weren’t good enough for the role. This pathos appeal is slightly effective because it tells the reader that being a leader isn’t always an easy task. You’re going to have people who doubt your leadership abilities and question your authority, as well as people who will support you and push you to your highest potential.

The lack of discussion about the specific information needed to become a perinatal nurse leader is an absence that can’t be ignored. Jackie Tillet has decades of experience in the perintatal/neonatal field. She obtains a doctorate degree in nursing, acquires a certification in midwifery, and has even taught as a clinical professor within the department of obstetrics & gynecology at two universities. It could be argued that her intent for the essay was to provide leadership advice to nursing students in any department to help them move up in their unit, but, if she titles her article “Mentoring Leaders in Perinatal Nursing”, shouldn’t she go into detail about what it means to be a leader in a perinatal unit? As an aspiring Perinatal Nurse Practitioner, I would’ve loved to read about what’s expected when working in this field and how I could use improve my skills to become a leader on my unit. It would’ve been great to read about ways I could become the best beside nurse possible or how to properly ask someone higher up in the unit for mentorship. If Tillet were to go into detail about these inquiries, I believe her essay would’ve been much more effective and informational than it is now.

As stated before, the audience for this essay would be aspiring and current perinatal nurses, as well as nurses in the field and/or same unit as newer nurses who have extensive experience that could share their knowledge. This article was published in an academic journal curated for aspiring Perinatal and Neonatal nurses, with contributions from Perinatal and Neonatal Nurses. The audience would seek out to read this article and others just like it to get a glimpse of what it’s like to work in this field of medicine. The purpose of Tillet’s essay was to educate the nurses about steps they should take to get to the top of their unit as well urging others above them to mentor these nurses to help them take over their positions when they’re gone.

Though Tillet effectively uses her credibility as a highly educated perinatal nurse to appeal rhetorically to the reader, she doesn’t do a good job with using logos, pathos, or discussing specifics about life as a perinatal nurse. Her essay was informational but too general. If this essay went into precise details about becoming a leader in perinatal nursing and offered advice tailored to the field, it would be much more effective to a reader who’s interested in moving up in the field.

I realized that the essay I chose to write about for my critical analysis was very appropriate because it contained a lot of information that I was able to break down. Tillet did a great job with writing her article. She was strong in some areas such as using her ethos as a renowned Perinatal Nurse Practitioner with a Doctorate in her field and position as a Professor. When it came to using pathos and logos, she severely lacked in those areas. As a student who aspires to become a Perinatal Nurse, seeking leadership in my field is not too far-fetched. I was really hoping that Tillet wrote a stronger essay about how to become leaders in Perinatal Nursing as a way of providing useful information for aspiring nurses such as myself.

Works Cited

Tillet, Jackie. “Mentoring Leaders in Perinatal Nursing.” The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, vol. 28, no.1, 2014, pp. 3-5., doi: 10.1097/jpn.0000000000000007

Health Care, Aurora. “Jacquelynn Tillett Bio.” Aurora Health Care, Aurora Health Care, 0ADAD, www.aurorahealthcare.org/doctors/jacquelynn-tillett-cnm.

McCloughen, A., O’Brien, L. and Jackson, D. (2009), Esteemed connection: creating a mentoring relationship for nurse leadership. Nursing Inquiry, 16: 326–336. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1800.2009.00451.x

Evans, R. L. and Reiser, D. J. (2004), Role Transitions for New Clinical Leaders in Perinatal Practice. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 33: 355–361. doi:10.1177/0884217504265097