Purpose In order to provide guidance and prepare ward managers for future crisis situations similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim of this study was to reflect and learn how person-centred nursing leadership may be strengthened in such situations. Background The pandemic has forced nurse leaders to face new challenges. Knowledge about their experiences may contribute to advancing leadership practices in times of future crises. Methods A qualitative directed content analysis was chosen. The theoretical perspective was person-centred leadership. Thirteen ward managers from a Danish university hospital were included and interviewed using telephone interviews three months after the first national COVID-19 case was confirmed. Findings The main findings of the study revealed that the ward managers often experienced a lack of timely, relevant information, involvement in decision-making and acknowledgement from the head nurse of department and the executive management. This was caused by the existing organizational cultures and the traditional hierarchy of communication. This meant that the ward managers' sense of own competences and leadership values and beliefs came under high pressure when they had to balance different stakeholders' needs. Conclusion When the experience of ward managers results in them being unable to lead authentically and competently in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of engagement can occur, with serious consequences for patients, staff and the ward managers themselves. Traditional organizational cultures that are hierarchical and controlling needs to be challenged and reoriented towards collaborative, inclusive and participative practices of engagement and involvement. Leadership development must be an established and integrated component of organizations, so that ward managers are able to sustain person-centred ways of being and doing in times of crisis.

Young cancer patients experience sexual and romantic challenges along with a lack of self-perceived attractiveness. Their substantial need for dialogue and counselling should be met in health care settings.

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In order to clarify expectations regarding the inclusion of nurse researchers as ANPs at PhD level, the paper provides firm recommendations that may guide the process.

GPNC as a culture in medical departments seemed to be embedded in a setting not suited for dying patients. Palliative care was still practised according to the transition model of care, sharply dividing curative from palliative care, and was inappropriately conducted in a fragmented and individual-based way. The term 'loving care' was used as a 'gate-opener' to provide palliative care for the dying; however, the content of this term was not defined or expressed among the health professionals. Practical and professional nursing skills are not sufficient to improve GPNC in the hospital department. Leaders on all levels need also to address the culture in which palliative care is embedded.

Patient experiences of self-care may collide with what general practitioners find appropriate in a medical regimen. Health professionals should be aware of patients' prominent and shifting considerations about the emotional aspects of disease. Patients valued the general practitioner's role in self-care support, primarily through the long-term doctor-patient relationship. Therefore, relational continuity should be prioritized in chronic care, especially for patients with impaired self-care ability who often have a highly complex disease burden and situational context. Key points   Little is known about the perspectives of disease and self-care in patients with a doctor-assessed impaired ability of self-care.   • Although patients knew the prescribed regimen they often prioritized self-care routines that increased well-being at the cost of medical recommendations.   • Shifting emotional aspects were prominent in patients' considerations of disease and sustained GPs' use of a patient-centred clinical method when discussing self-care.   • Relational continuity with general practitioners was a highly valued support and should be prioritized for patients with impaired self-care.

Although the method of concept analysis has been criticized and heavily debated, the development of nursing research cultures based on the defining attributes and antecedents of the concept will be important to emphasize evidence-based clinical nursing care. Further research should support the development and the implementation of nursing research culture in clinical nursing practice.

BackgroundIt is not known how general practitioners (GPs) perceive the concept of self-care and how they assess self-care ability in patients with multiple chronic conditions. As a part of the strategy to improve the care of people living with chronic conditions, disease management programs in Denmark require GPs and other health care workers to assess and support patients’ self-care ability. The aim of the present study was to explore GPs’ perceptions and assessment of self-care ability in patients with multiple chronic conditions who have difficulty following a given treatment.MethodsA qualitative study conducted through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 12 GPs in rural areas of Denmark with economically disadvantaged populations. The interviews involved 36 complex patient cases selected by the GPs themselves. Our analysis followed the principles of systematic text condensation.ResultsMost GPs in our study had a health-related perception of self-care, but some had a broader perception encompassing the situational context of the patient’s life. The GPs’ assessments of patients’ self-care ability were based on information from the ongoing and often long-term relationships with the patients. GPs identified four major factors that influenced patients’ self-care ability, which accumulated and fluctuated over time: multimorbidity, cognitive resources, material resources, and the patients’ social contexts.ConclusionsThe GPs in this study had dual perceptions of self-care, related to both the chronic health conditions and to the broader situational contexts of their patients’ lives. GPs’ assessments of self-care ability depended largely on their experiences from the doctor-patient relationship, and they emphasized that the factors affecting self-care ability were highly dynamic over the patient’s lifetime. However, these findings might be resisted by the Danish disease management programs, which tend to have a static and more narrow, health-related view of patient self-care. The Danish programs require GPs to assess self-care ability upfront at the beginning of treatment and do not consider whether a relationship with the patient is established. If GPs’ perceptions and assessments of self-care ability are not included in chronic disease management models, there is a risk that they vill be insufficiently implemented in general practice.