Nurse manager engagement: a concept analysis

This concept analysis examines the visibility of nurse manager engagement in the healthcare work environment.

The term employee engagement was derived from studies of morale or the willingness of a group to accomplish objectives in the 1920s. "Following World War II group morale scores were used as predictors of speed, quality, and militancy by US Army researchers. The goal was to identify star, or high performers. A term was needed to describe emotional attachment of an individual to the organization, fellow associates, and the job" ("Employee engagement origins," 2010, p. 1).

The CINAHL, MEDLINE, ABI INFORM, PsycINFO, and Ovid databases and the Internet were searched for the period of 2005-2010 for literature published in English with a focus on peer-reviewed journals from disciplines of health sciences, health administration, business, and psychology.

The Walker and Avant method was used for this analysis. The experience of the author as a current and previous nurse manager was also used for this analysis.

Nurse manager engagement was assumed to be present based indirectly on empirical referents and consequences, such as low or high vacancy rates for staff nurses.

Further research is needed to explore the identity of the nurse serving in the role of manager/leader who is able to demonstrate the skills and talents necessary to visibly demonstrate engagement and facilitate a culture of engaged nurse managers.