TY - JOUR
T1 - Is leadership of nurses associated with nurse-reported quality of care? A cross-sectional survey
AU - den Breejen-de Hooge, Linda E.
AU - van Os-Medendorp, Harmieke
AU - Hafsteinsdóttir, Thóra B.
N1 - © The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Background: Nurses need to exhibit stronger leadership by taking more responsibility and accountability to improve healthcare quality and patient safety. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the association between quality of care and leadership styles and practices, and whether the characteristics of nurses influence this interaction. Methods: We conducted a multicentre cross-sectional survey of 655 nurses working on clinical wards in Dutch university medical centres in 2018. Results: Transformational leadership was significantly associated with quality of care which explained 5.9% of the total variance (R2= 0.059 F = (11,643) = 3.726, p = 0.011), and the nurse characteristics gender, profession and type of practice area were significant influencing factors. Nurses rated the quality of care (mean (M) = 7.7, standard deviation (SD) = 1.3) as moderate and they showed moderate levels of transformational leadership style (M = 3.7, SD = 0.5) and transformational leadership practices (M ≥ 6.2 and ≤ 7.6). Conclusions: When considering quality improvement on clinical wards strategic managers need to be aware of the fact that leadership is associated with quality of care and that nurse characteristics influence this association. The findings indicate a pressing need for education and training for nurses in how to develop leadership and raising the awareness among strategic managers about the importance of leadership in health care is recommended.
AB - Background: Nurses need to exhibit stronger leadership by taking more responsibility and accountability to improve healthcare quality and patient safety. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the association between quality of care and leadership styles and practices, and whether the characteristics of nurses influence this interaction. Methods: We conducted a multicentre cross-sectional survey of 655 nurses working on clinical wards in Dutch university medical centres in 2018. Results: Transformational leadership was significantly associated with quality of care which explained 5.9% of the total variance (R2= 0.059 F = (11,643) = 3.726, p = 0.011), and the nurse characteristics gender, profession and type of practice area were significant influencing factors. Nurses rated the quality of care (mean (M) = 7.7, standard deviation (SD) = 1.3) as moderate and they showed moderate levels of transformational leadership style (M = 3.7, SD = 0.5) and transformational leadership practices (M ≥ 6.2 and ≤ 7.6). Conclusions: When considering quality improvement on clinical wards strategic managers need to be aware of the fact that leadership is associated with quality of care and that nurse characteristics influence this association. The findings indicate a pressing need for education and training for nurses in how to develop leadership and raising the awareness among strategic managers about the importance of leadership in health care is recommended.
KW - cross-sectional
KW - leadership
KW - nurses
KW - quality of healthcare
KW - university medical centres
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098877629&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1744987120976176
DO - 10.1177/1744987120976176
M3 - Article
C2 - 35251232
AN - SCOPUS:85098877629
SN - 1744-9871
VL - 26
SP - 118
EP - 132
JO - Journal of Research in Nursing
JF - Journal of Research in Nursing
IS - 1-2
ER -