Leadership roles of nurse managers from the Portuguese nurse’s viewpoint

Abstract

Background & Aim: The leadership role adopted by nurse managers has a fundamental role in the quality of care. Leadership is fundamental to the successful provision of health services due to its effect on health professionals and patients. This study aims to characterize the leadership roles of nurse managers in clinical nurse’s perspective.

Methods & Materials: This is a descriptive and correlational study. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling with 219 nurses from different health institutions in Portugal. Data collection occurred from November 2019 to January 2020 using the Leadership Skills Questionnaire adapted by Parreira and collaborators o the Portuguese population, based on Quinn’s framework and the instrument developed by him. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 22) with descriptive and inferential statistics according to the nature of the variables.

Results: The results demonstrated that the study participants recognize the leadership roles of their nurse managers in a balanced manner: Mentor (4.85±1.53), Director (4.62±1.32), Coordinator (4.56±1.34), Producer (4.55±1.31), Monitor (4.40±1.30), Broker (4.36±1.40), Facilitator (4.35±1.40), and Innovator (4.03±1.38).

Conclusion: It is observed greater orientation to the fulfillment of goals. There is a clear orientation to compliance with rules and, therefore, to internal orientation and control. The current study has different implications for nurse managers, education, and research.