Features of professional and personal characteristics of heads of nursing services

The aim of the study is to investigate, analyze and evaluate the professional and personal characteristics of heads of nursing services. Results. Heads of nursing services with underdeveloped professional and leadership qualities are unable to lead staff and train others. Conclusion. This work shows the uniqueness and importance of the development of the personality of the nurse-leader, her abilities as criteria for professional and career growth; also, an attempt is made to highlight the character traits and principles of work that make management successful and effective.

The factors influencing the innovative performance of leaders in nurses’ professional: a developing country perspective

Purpose The health-care services in Iraq currently face many challenges. The most noted is the lack of effective nursing leaders to meet the growing needs of the health-care services. Effective nursing leadership is critical to the health-care system, affecting work performance, quality of care and staff satisfaction. The literature suggests that nursing leaders in Iraq are not adequately trained to provide leadership to improve the nursing profession and have limited involvement in decision-making. The purpose of this study is to explore the views of nurses on what they believe constitutes effective leadership in Iraq. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methods approach is used involving 20 semi-structured interviews of senior nurses. The sample of nurses came from two large general hospitals in Iraq. The qualitative data was thematically analyzed and interpreted. Findings The study results indicated that there were factors that influence the performance of nurse leader, namely, excessive workload, personal relationship with nursing staff, professional recognition of nursing and selection criteria of leaders. Test results show that there were significant differences in views of the nurses toward nurse leaders’ performance. This research concludes that the nurse leader performance in developing countries is affected by excessive workload, personal relationship with nursing staff, professional recognition of nursing and selection criteria of leaders. Originality/value The relevance of the study stems from the scarcity of research on the leader performance in developing countries, while studies on the factors influencing the innovative performance of leaders in nurses’ professional are significantly limited. This study is one of the earliest studies that investigate these factors influencing the nurse leader’s performance.

Patient Experience in Obstetrics in a Military Patient Satisfaction Survey: Findings and Recommendations for Improvement

ABSTRACT Introduction This study examines the care experience of obstetric patients within the Military Health System and compares them to those of medical and surgical care patients. Specifically, the study seeks to (1) examine how obstetric inpatient experience ratings differ from medical and surgical inpatient experience ratings, (2) understand specific aspects of care that drive overall experience ratings within this population, (3) test whether adherence to nursing practices such as hourly rounding and nurse leader visits affect experience ratings, and (4) describe ways that patient experience information can be presented to healthcare providers to improve performance. Materials and Methods Data for this study include Military Health System patient experience survey data (based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) collected from 2011 through 2019. Analysis includes data collected from 338,124 patients aged 18 years and older. Our analysis involved z-test comparisons of patient experience measure scores, trend analysis, logistic regression-based driver analysis, and correlations. Results Obstetric ratings are generally lower than those of medical and surgical patients; however, they have been improving at a slightly faster rate year over year. Effective nurse communications with patients are a particularly strong driver for improving their overall care experiences, and practices like hourly nurse rounding, nurse leader visits, and nurse–patient shift change conversations are positively correlated with obstetric patient experience ratings. Conclusions This study contextualizes how obstetric inpatient experience ratings differ from those of medical and surgical care patients. Healthcare administrators and policymakers should be aware that obstetric patients may have unique needs and expectations that lead to patient experience ratings differing from those of medical and surgical patients. Effective nurse–patient communications, hourly rounding, nurse leader visits, and nurse–patient shift change conversations could be strategies used to improve obstetric experience ratings.