Impact of Ethical Leadership on Missed Nursing Care: A Cross‐sectional Study from Nurses' Perspective

Abstract

Background and Objective: Missed nursing care is a global concern. Nursing managers, using leadership skills, have a prominent role in preventing missed nursing care. Ethical leadership is one of the leadership approaches. The present study aimed to describe the impact of ethical leadership perceived by nurses on missed nursing care in 2021. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive correlational study, 230 nurses working in internal medicine and surgery units were selected through a stratified proportional sampling method from two hospitals affiliated with Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. Questionnaires on “ethical leadership in nursing” and “missed nursing care” were the data collection tools. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for data analysis using SPSS (version 16). Results: The mean score of missed nursing care and perceived ethical leadership was 47.54 ± 2.83 and 109.08 ± 10.75, respectively. The most missed nursing care, in the dimensions of assessment, individual needs, basic care, and planning, were "focused reassessment according to patient’s condition", "emotional support for patient/family", "supervision on feeding patient when the food is still warm", and "attending interdisciplinary care conferences", respectively. The results showed a significant inverse relationship between perceived ethical leadership and missed nursing care (P<0.05). The regression analysis revealed that among the dimensions of ethical leadership, the ethical-oriented dimension can be considered a negative predictor of missed nursing care. Conclusion: Implementing ethical leadership is one of the practical strategies to decrease missed nursing care. The participation and performance of nursing managers in this process are critical to a successful outcome.