Nurse managers' learning facilitation practices: A philosophical hermeneutic study

Area of Science:

• Nursing Management
• Healthcare Education
• Organizational Learning

Background:

• Meeting healthcare staff learning needs is essential for safe patient care.
• Nurse managers' unit-level contributions to staff learning are under-researched.
• Contemporary healthcare workplaces present complex learning environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how nurse managers facilitate learning in clinical settings.
• To understand the nuances of nurse managers' roles in staff development.
• To identify factors influencing learning facilitation by nurse managers.

Main Methods:

• A Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutic approach was employed.
• Data collection involved in-depth interviews and observations.
• Thirteen nurse managers from two Australian hospitals participated.

Main Results:

• Learning facilitation occurred individually, in teams, and via artifacts.
• Practices were influenced by managers' identities, learning perspectives, and performance knowledge.
• The exercise of power emerged as a significant driver of learning facilitation.

Conclusions:

• Nurse managers' learning facilitation is a complex, fluid aspect of daily work.
• This practice is often overlooked in current nursing literature.
• Findings offer avenues to enrich the understanding and practice of nurse managers as learning facilitators.