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Leadership styles in ethical dilemmas when head nurses make decisions
V Zydziunaite1, D Lepaite, T Suominen
1Department of Education, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Finland. v.zydziunaite@kic.vdu.lt
International Nursing Review
|May 23, 2013
Summary
Head nurses in Lithuania utilize various leadership styles, including democratic and transformational, when navigating ethical dilemmas. Experience influences style choice, with longer-serving nurses favoring bureaucratic approaches.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Leadership
- Healthcare Management
- Ethical Decision-Making
Background:
- Head nurses in Lithuania lack leadership development, impacting their crucial role in ethical decision-making.
- Effective leadership styles are essential for head nurses to positively influence healthcare providers and patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the leadership styles employed by head nurses during ethical dilemma resolution in hospital settings.
Main Methods:
- Questionnaires were administered to 278 head nurses across five major Lithuanian hospitals.
- Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and analysis of variance using SPSS 16.0.
Main Results:
- Head nurses commonly use democratic, affiliative, transformational, and sustainable leadership styles in ethical dilemmas.
- Leadership style application correlates with experience, ward specialization, and ethical dilemma frequency.
- Nurses with over 10 years of experience tend to use bureaucratic leadership more frequently than less experienced counterparts.
Conclusions:
- Head nurses should critically evaluate their practices and seek continuous learning from experience, peers, and patients.
- Managerial decisions by head nurses, leveraging their executive authority, can pioneer advanced nursing leadership.
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