From caring to managing and beyond: an examination of the head nurse's role

Abstract

These results implied that head nurses exhibited a management style orientated to maintenance rather than to re-creation, focusing more on the 'doing' and the 'here and now' aspects of the job than on leading, planning, and proactive problem solving.

Being a nurse leader in bedside nursing in hospital and community care contexts in Norway and Sweden

“…Our findings illuminated a question previously raised by Drach-Zahavy and Dagan [46] , if economy has become the main goal in the health-care system. We are talking about high quality of care whilst economic balance is the paramount goal.…”

“…If so, this would be a great pitfall for the welfare of society, as it may harm the patients' health and well-being and cause frustration and burn-out among nurse leaders and their personnel [20] . The characteristic groups of leaders suggested in our study may illustrate these different goals, which are grounded in values of humanism and economism [46] . The patient-guardian, who was identified among most of the leaders, described leaders who were building their role on professional nursing values such as caring, dignity and respect, but were caught in the demands of economic goals.…”

Preparing the air for nursing care: A grounded theory study of first line nurse managers

“…A typology has also been offered as a result of the analysis and the modalities are: the Active Developer, The Passive Thinker, the Impulsive Creator and the Routine Manager. These findings add and deepen the insights into nursing leadership in relation to nursing care and support other studies concerned with the nurse manager's different attributes, roles and skills (Mahoney, 2001;Drach-Zahavy and Dagan, 2002;Wieck, et al, 2002;Narinen and Kekki, 2003;Upenieks, 2003;Carroll, 2005;Sellgren, et al, 2006). This study was, however, confined to nurse managers at the ward level in Finland.…”

Span of management: concept analysis

“…multiple management layers) or through re‐distribution of management functions to other roles or departments, may influence the division of work amongst management positions. For example, in a study by Drach‐Zahavy and Dagan (2002), head nurses within a four‐tier nursing management chain focused their activities on internal unit coordination and spent less time than anticipated in external coordination, which was taken on by higher level nurse managers. A shift from clinical to management activities has been observed as first‐line management functions such as training, supervision and care delivery management have devolved to other roles (Duffield et al.…”