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From caring to managing and beyond: an examination of the head nurse's role
Anat Drach-Zahavy1, Efrat Dagan
1Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Welfare, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. anatdz@construct.haifa.ac.il
Aim:
The aim of this study was to depict the essence of what head nurses do, and how they perform their managerial role.
Methods:
To achieve this, the work behaviour of 48 head nurses was examined by a semi-structured observation technique for 6 hours each.
Results:
Results demonstrated that head nurses spent a large proportion of their time in clinical practice, followed by co-ordinating care, operating the unit's functions, and leading staff. Personnel management and quality improvement occupied only a marginal share of head nurses' time.
Conclusions:
These results implied that head nurses exhibited a management style orientated to maintenance rather than to re-creation, focusing more on the 'doing' and the 'here and now' aspects of the job than on leading, planning, and proactive problem solving.
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