Spiritual leaders can retain nurses

To awaken, to alert, to educate and to motivate nurse leaders towards spiritual leadership.

Government restructuring has resulted in nursing layoffs, high nurse to patient ratios and reduced professional support. As a result, nurses can experience negative psychological effects which can result in nurses choosing to leave the profession.

The majority of spiritual leadership literature is reflective of Fry's Spiritual Leadership Theory; thus, available research evidence pertaining to spiritual leadership was utilized for this commentary.

Frontline nurses desire spiritual leaders and cultures built upon altruistic love. Nurse leaders must be alerted to workplace spirituality and must be motivated to apply spiritual leadership. Spiritual nurse leaders must value the qualities of spiritual leadership to create solid visions and cultures based on altruistic love to retain nursing staff.

Spiritual leadership is evidenced to increase retention while improving the psychological well-being of individual health. To rebuild the nursing culture and to retain frontline nurses, nurse leaders must feel motivated to incorporate spirituality in the workplace by implementing spiritual leadership.

Strategies are recommended to assist nurse leaders in creating a culture of altruistic love and to attain a meaningful inner life through self-assessment, self-awareness and self-compassion.