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Thesis Name: Identifying the characteristics required by clinical leaders in mental health nursing and how they are developed

Thesis Abstract:

There is significant evidence to support the value of leadership in nursing. In particular its positive impact on retention and recruitment rates and on the quality of patient outcomes. However, leadership is generally viewed from a management and an organisational viewpoint. Limited recent research has focused on clinical leadership. This type of leadership is directly related to the delivery of care to patients by nurses with no formal organisational or management responsibilities. This leadership role can have an important part to play in improving the quality of care for patients, ensuring an evidence based approach to nursing care, retention and attraction of staff to nursing and providing a legitimate professional development pathway for nurses who have no interest in pursuing a career that involves a move into management or academia. Although the studies reviewed agreed on the characteristics of an effective clinical leader there is little research on how effective clinical leaders are developed or formed in either a general or mental health setting. A grounded theory methodology was chosen as this study aims to generate new knowledge and insights into an area of mental health nursing that is poorly researched. The aims of this study are to investigate the characteristics of effective clinical leaders in mental health nursing and to understand how effective clinical leaders in this setting are formed and shaped. Developing this understanding of how effective clinica

Why my research is important/Impacts:

Effective leadership can improve outcomes for patients, attract new staff, assist with retention of existing staff and influence future directions of the nursing profession. It has been argued that nurses don’t leave hospitals, they leave managers. This has both an impact on patient care and also a financial cost. It has been estimated that once the cost of recruitment, orientation, short term use of agency nursing staff and overtime to cover a vacant nursing position are taken into account it can cost between $66,000 and $133,000 to replace one nurse. Some researchers believe that the reasons staff leave are directly related to leadership style and that a staff member’s relationship with their manager directly influences their productivity levels and length of stay in the organisation. Therefore it is important to understand how effective and productive leaders develop to inform an approach to leadership development for mental health nurses. Although leadership receives considerable attention in the literature, the research mainly concentrates on leadership in nursing from one of two perspectives: i) the challenges of leadership versus management; or ii) the types of leadership thought to be most effective in healthcare. The literature does not investigate, examine or critically review how effective clinical leadership skills in nursing are developed. This suggests a gap in knowledge regarding this aspect of leadership in nursing. Some literature examines programs, training courses and mentorship that hone and develop existing leaders but does not consider how the nurses that participate in the programs initially developed their leadership skills or found themselves in

Funding/Scholarship: School of Graduate Research

Gary Ennis

Research Details