Nurse Leader Empowerment in Creating a Positive Work Environment
Gain insight into nurse leader empowerment in creating positive work environments.
Relevance/Significance:
Nurse leaders have greater challenges today than years past. Some of these challenges include multiple unit management, more responsibility for unit financial status, maintenance of high levels of quality care, and creation and sustainability of positive work environments. Providing nurse leaders with empowerment structures necessary to create positive work environments motivates and engages staff, increases value and commitment to the organization, and decreases turnover.
Strategy and Implementation:
An assessment of perceived structural empowerment, using the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II (CWEQ-II) was conducted to identify baseline perceptions of structural empowerment of 42 nurse leaders at a Magnet designated community hospital.The analysis of structural empowerment levels served as a foundation for identifying a nurse leadership development curriculum to provide nurse leaders with the structures necessary in creating and sustaining positive work environments. An educational curriculum was developed utilizing the Standards of a Healthy Work Environment identified by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). These standards were aligned with the empowerment structures.
Evaluation:
The responses (86% response rate) identified a moderate level of perceived empowerment. The findings were analyzed to evaluate the perceptions of empowerment based on access to empowerment structures of information, support, resources, opportunities, formal power, and informal power.
Implications for Practice:
This leadership development curriculum draws a connection between empowerment and healthy work environments to guide nurse leaders in advancing their skills to help create and sustain positive work environments.