Project Overview

Description:

The overall goal of this study is to profile nursing leadership/management structures in current Canadian hospitals by examining the organizational and structural characteristics of nursing management roles in 66 teaching and community hospitals. This study will also examine how nursing leadership roles in hospital settings across Canada have changed and the factors that are important in enabling nurse leaders to perform their roles.

Importance to Decision Makers:

This study will provide information that can inform decision-making for the design of effective nursing leadership role configurations and organizational structures in hospitals and provide knowledge that can be incorporated into future preparation of nurse leaders. It will also provide external policy makers and decision-makers with important empirical evidence to determine what organizational structures, supports and strategies may be instrumental in recruiting and retaining individuals in nursing leadership roles, as well as the essential factors that influence nursing leadership role articulation and effectiveness to achieve optimal staff and patient care outcomes.

Objective(s):

(1) To provide a descriptive analysis of nursing leadership/management structures at senior, middle, and unit levels of nursing management.

(2) To examine relationships among structural and process characteristics of nurse leader roles and work-related outcomes.

(3) To examine the effect of senior nurse leader role characteristics on middle and unit managers' work.

Approach:

This project has two components:
(1) a descriptive analysis of nursing leadership/management structures in Canada and,
(2) a test of a model linking senior nurse leader characteristics to both senior nurse leader and lower level nurse manager outcomes.

Primary data will be collected at each site though a survey of senior nurse leaders, middle and unit managers and chief executive officers. A purposively selected subset of senior nurse leaders will also be interviewed.