[How staff perceives head nurses' leadership: a qualitative study]

Area of Science:

• Nursing Leadership
• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Head nurse leadership significantly impacts the quality of nursing care and work environment.
• Defining the ideal head nurse is challenging due to the dynamic nature of their role.
• Current understanding lacks a fixed set of characteristics for an ideal head nurse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore staff perceptions of essential leadership characteristics for an ideal hospital head nurse.
• To identify key attributes staff associate with effective head nurse leadership.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving 27 nurses from general medicine departments across five hospitals.
• Three focus groups were conducted to gather data on leadership characteristics.

Main Results:

• Ideal leadership is characterized by staff empowerment, strong management skills, and effective coping strategies.
• Essential traits include determination, resourcefulness, enthusiasm, and willingness to lead.
• A key challenge is maintaining determination to prevent exhaustion and emotional disengagement.

Conclusions:

• Head nurse determination is crucial but can fluctuate, necessitating recognition of exhaustion signs.
• Strategies like sharing vision and job rotation can help maintain leader energy and meet role expectations.
• Sustaining leader determination is vital for preventing burnout and ensuring role continuity.