Nursing Leadership Skills Research Articles

Nursing in prisons: developing the specialty of offender health care

This article, the first in a five-part series, examines offender health care as a specialty. It explores the role of the nurse and the developments that have occurred over the last ten years in this field. In later articles, the authors discuss leadership skills for nurses working in the criminal justice system, assessment of the acutely ill patient, management of long-term conditions, and the future of nursing in offender health care.

An online nursing leadership literature centre at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries

Decades of hospital restructuring in Canada resulted in significant reductions of nursing leadership positions and altered a nursing infrastructure important for guiding patient care. The importance of acquiring nursing leadership skills to address the negative effects of restructuring is advocated by Canadian nursing bodies. To describe a service innovation for a nursing community. The librarians of the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries (UMHSL) created an online nursing leadership literature centre to support a leadership programme launched by the Nursing Leadership Council (NLC) of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The article will contribute to the body of literature about health library services for nurses. The creation of the service is described. A literature search was undertaken to determine what services have been implemented by librarians for nursing leadership programmes, as well as to review the literature with regard to contributions made by librarians for nursing communities. The literature service, comprised of 19 webliographies based on the NLC's leadership topics, is available on the UMHSL website. A webliography, by definition, is a list of electronic works relating to a particular topic. The NLC created its own website that provides nurses with a means to identify, enhance and evaluate leadership competencies, and which is linked to the UMHSL website. The contributions of the UMHSL librarians to this project support the goals of instilling leadership skills in nurses, encouraging evidence-based nursing practice, and transforming a practice environment to meet the ultimate goal of effective patient care.

International collaboration for pediatric oncology nursing leadership: Nicaragua and Canada

In 2005, with financial support from the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario, a pilot nursing leadership project linked pediatric oncology nurses from Canada with nurses at the La Mascota Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua. Following consultation with the pediatric oncology team in Nicaragua, a program was developed to strengthen clinical nursing leadership in a clinical setting through continuing education. The nurses believed that care of the patient and family improved due to the increased leadership skills of nurses in the unit and as the profile and credibility of nurses as peers in the health care team became evident. Providing nurses with the autonomy and financing for a project related directly to nursing care represented an important development for leadership in the profession.

Shaping Humane Healthcare Systems

Transforming the culture of the workplace to improve patient satisfaction, nurse retention, and patient care outcomes requires a wide range of nursing leadership skills. Lessons learned from other organizations and from the successful transformation of the public mental health system of care are discussed. Innate tendencies of organizations to simplify in efforts to manage complexities of the workplace contribute to the challenge. Key to improving nurses' satisfaction is assisting them to experience themselves as effective and their work as meaningful. A model entitled BRIDGES is presented that emphasizes the importance of collaboration, effective communication, and mission focus to our success.

Joan Burritt, RN, DNSc

Joan Burritt, RN, DNSc

What Do High School Guidance Counselors Really Think of Nursing?

With the increasing nursing shortage, it is imperative that nursing programs attract and retain students who will be successful in becoming competent, caring practitioners. High school guidance counselors can influence the career choices of students. To do so, these professionals must have an accurate understanding of the attributes that will facilitate a career in nursing, as well as the changing roles of nurses. This study determined the current perceptions of high school guidance counselors regarding nursing. Overall, guidance counselors had realistic perceptions of nursing and identified personal and cognitive attributes of students that would promote success in nursing. However, nurses involved in the recruitment of students need to ensure that guidance counselors have more accurate perceptions of the changing role of nurses, opportunities for practice outside hospital settings, and the importance of problem-solving abilities and leadership skills for nurses.

Cultivating Effective Leadership Skills for Nurses: A Commentary

Opportunities abound for nurses to lead, but few are born leaders: Most must learn effective leadership skills. Paying attention to and developing four simple things—having followers, moving in the right direction, setting examples, and having authenticity—enable nurses to be effective leaders. The challenge lies in continually acting and questioning what can be done to make a difference.

Speaking the Language of Finance

Nursing leadership skills have changed dramatically in a short period of time. Just being able to cover the schedule and ensure adequate orientation for new employees are not enough in today's health care environment. This article outlines steps to ensure adequate staffing levels, assess productivity, and justify the operational supplies and capital equipment necessary for effective patient care. It also outlines steps nursing leaders can take to market their programs and services.

The road to success with a mentor.

Mentoring is a valuable career development tool used to build nursing leadership skills. Our present nursing leaders must consider it their responsibility to mentor the novice leader of the future, just as they may have been mentored. During the mentoring process, the mentor will use the roles of teacher, counselor, intervenor, and sponsor to develop the protégé. The mentor will facilitate the development of independence, self-confidence, job satisfaction, upward mobility, decision-making skills, and problem-solving skills in the protégé. During this process the mentor and protégé will move through three developmental phases. These phases include the first phase of recognition and development, the second phase of emerging protégé independence, and the final phase of letting go. If the "fit" is right, the protégé will experience the many positive outcomes. If the "fit" is not quite right, then the movement through the phases will be incomplete and the protégé may not develop independence. The protégé and the mentor may also experience a number of other negative outcomes, such as feelings of being over pressured or let down.