Nurses’ Perspective on Leadership Qualities of Nurse Managers

Abstract

Nurse managers’ decision making ability, communication skills and commitment to the profession directly and indirectly affect nurses’ job satisfaction and thereby the quality of patient care. The aim of the study was to explore nurses’ perception on leadership qualities of their nurse managers. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among purposively recruited nurses from both medical and surgical wards in the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in early 2017. Data were collected from 251 nurses using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained for the study. According to their perception, only 65.3% nurses believed that the nurse managers use effective communication skills in their management, while 64.6% agreed that their decision making ability is good. Among participants, 69.8% positively responded regarding their job satisfaction and 67.3% nurses thought that their nurse managers were committed to the profession. Further, nurses responded at moderate levels on their nurse managers’ qualities including equality (61%), appreciation (66%) and flexibility in duty arrangements (73%). According to nurses’ perception, nurse managers’ leadership qualities including effective communication skills, decision making ability and commitment to the nursing profession were at moderate level. As nurse managers’ qualities influence both patients and staff, it is essential to organize educational programmes for the nurse managers to improve their leadership qualities, and thereby to improve the quality of patient care and outcome.