[Nursing leaders' expectations concerning their nursing staff in situations involving change]

The purpose of the study is to generate, in the context of a health centre hospital, knowledge about the expectations that nursing leaders have of their nursing staff in a situation involving change. The goal is to change the model of care delivery to primary nursing and to use research-based knowledge as the point of departure for the development work. The study is based on the theory of primary nursing and it tries to answer questions like "What do nursing leaders expect of their nursing staff" and "How do these expectations manifest themselves in practice?" A total of 26 nursing leaders who were involved in the development work wrote free-form essays to answer the research questions. These data were then categorized by using component analysis. According to the results, what is expected of nurses is, most importantly, patient-centred practice involving commitment to primary nursing, an ability and the will to cooperate, and flexibility and preparedness for changes. The content of the components was described in a form in which it is expected to appear in practice. The research results show that nurse education and nursing leadership need to be developed in a direction which will ensure that nurses are able to practise in accordance with what is expected of them.