Nurse managers experiences of their leadership roles in a specific mining primary healthcare service in the West Rand

The perceptions of nurse managers working in the mining industry on workplace relationships

Background

Positive workplace relationships improve the quality of healthcare provided by promoting teamwork and ensuring that challenges are addressed amicably. Nurse managers, unit managers, nurses, doctors and union leaders are obligated to establish positive working relationships to deliver quality primary healthcare service to mine workers at the clinics of the mine. However, there are negative workplace relationships at the clinics of a specific mining company that affect the quality of service delivered.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of primary healthcare nurse managers working in the mining industry on workplace relationships.

Setting

This study was conducted in mining primary healthcare clinics located in Gauteng province, in the West Rand.

Methods

A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was adopted in this study. Individual interviews were conducted to collect data from the primary healthcare nurse managers, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Trustworthiness measures and ethical principles were upheld in this study.

Results

Three themes surfaced in this study: (1) negative perceptions of primary healthcare nurse managers on workplace relationships, (2) positive perceptions of primary healthcare nurse managers on workplace relationships and (3) building workplace relationships between primary healthcare nurse managers and union leaders.

Conclusion

Nurse managers had positive and negative perceptions on working relationships in this study. Negative workplace relationships should be prevented at all costs by resolving conflicts amicably.

Contribution

Resolving of conflicts amicably to build positive workplace relationships.

Community nursing delivery in urban China: A social power perspective

Community nurses remain understudied in research on interactional power, especially in China where community healthcare is an emerging practice. Grounded in French & Raven's typology of social power, this article conceptualises the power of community nurses in a Chinese urban context. Through thematic analysis of textual data from 26 semi-structured interviews and two additional focus group discussions with community nurses in Shenzhen, we identified six power varieties, i.e. indirect reward, indirect coercion, legitimate position, peer reference, field expertise, and caring information. We classified these powers trichotomously, as nurse-to-doctor, nurse-to-nurse, and nurse-to-patient, to show the potential influences nurses bring to healthcare relationships. Our analysis indicated nurses' exercise of some powers was constrained by two elements, i.e. doctor-nurse power polarity and patient prejudices against nursing, which together contributed to nurses' adverse power loss. These power adversities permeated the community health environment, contributing to healthcare delivery dysfunctions by undermining nurses' self-improvement, self-assurance, enthusiasm, and cooperation in care. Our analysis, using the insights of social power, develops a novel reading of community nursing delivery in urban China. We argue that nurse empowerment could promote community healthcare delivery. Role enhancement and pro-nursing policy development would reduce adverse power scenarios for community nurses and help convert their potential power resources into practical powers in support of patients' needs.

Stretched beyond our capacity: The voices of operational managers from Ekurhuleni clinics during COVID-19

BACKGROUND

 Operational Managers (OMs) in primary health care (PHC) experienced new management dynamics during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They were not sufficiently prepared to deal with the extraordinary challenges brought by this global pandemic.

OBJECTIVES

 The aim of this study was to explore and describe the PHC OMs' experiences of new management dynamics in PHC facilities, created by COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

 This study used a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design and a phenomenological approach. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured individual interviews. Data saturation was reached by the 7th interview and two more interviews were done to confirm data saturation. Data analysis was conducted using Giorgi's descriptive thematic phenomenological data analysis method. An independent coder was implored to confirm the findings. This study was guided by Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Ethical considerations were applied throughout the research process.

RESULTS

 One central theme and three main themes emerged as; stretching of inadequate resources. themes; (1) budgetary cuts and increasing demands of resources, (2) insufficient of personal protective equipment, other general supplies and human resources, and (3) compromised service delivery and increased client's dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSION

 This study revealed that OMs were over stretched and overwhelmed by the management on PHC facilities due to COVID-19 pandemic dynamics.Contribution: The findings of this study can be implemented in PHC facilities to effectively deal with future pandemics of such a nature.

Nurse managers’ leadership roles in mining primary healthcare settings in Gauteng

Background

Nurse managers carry the light of leadership in mining primary healthcare settings (mPHCs). They must ensure that this light shines for their followers to improve the quality of service rendered in primary healthcare. However, the nurse managers in mPHCs are confusing their leadership roles with management roles. The existing policies such as operational management of mPHCs are also not clarifying the leadership roles of nurse managers.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to understand the nurse managers’ leadership roles in mPHCs.

Setting

This study was conducted in mPHCs, situated in Gauteng province, in the West Rand in 2017.

Methods

A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was employed in this study. The participants were selected using a non-probability purposive sampling method. Ten participants formed part of the study. To collect data, individual in-depth interviews were conducted. Giorgi’s descriptive thematic data analysis was used to analyse data. Measures to ensure trustworthiness and ethical principles were adhered to.

Results

Three themes emanated: confusion of leadership roles with management roles, confusion of leadership roles with clinical roles and confusion of leadership roles with resources management roles.

Conclusion

The importance of describing nurse managers’ leadership roles surfaced from this study to eradicate confusion.

Contribution

The nurse managers in mPHCs are now understanding their leadership roles, and that leadership roles, management roles, clinical roles and resources management roles are distinguishable.

Implementation of Safety Leadership in Nursing Management: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review

Background: Safety leadership positively influence safety compliance amongst employees in health care. It is necessary to understand how far nursing management has played its roles in attaining safety leadership. Objective: This study is aimed to explore the safety leadership implemented by nursing management in enhancing the health care system. Methods: This study conducted a systematic mixed studies review of current literature focusing on nursing managerial and safety leadership. Five key terms, safety leadership and head nurse or headward, first-line nurse manager, nurse leader, or nurse administrator, were used to retrieve relevant articles. Potential articles were found in seven extensive databases (EBSCO, Sage Publication, Scopus, JSTOR, Wiley online, ProQuest and Emerald). We included English research articles or review papers, available full-text, and published from September 2010 to September 2020. Irrelevant and redundant articles were excluded. Two data extractors analyzed the relevant reports. Results: The search yielded 40 articles. But, after duplicates were removed, eleven full-text articles involving 5361 respondents were reviewed. The review papers included qualitative studies (n = 3), cross-sectional survey (n = 6), and (quasi) experiments (n = 2). The most significant proportion (40%) of the study was conducted in the American region. Four themes were generated, including role of safety leadership, development of safety leadership, support, and barriers. The review highlights that the nurse leaders play essential role in the development and implementation of safety leaderships in the hospital wards though they face challenges which need supporting team works, professionals, and standards. Conclusion: Adopting safety leadership as a part of nursing management requires support from policymakers, institutions, and nursing leaders. The leaders should understand the complexities of the institutional structures and functional relationships in the health care system to meet patient safety standards

Exploring the challenges in leadership roles experienced by nurse managers in a mining primary healthcare setting in South Africa

Background

The challenges in leadership roles hinder the rendering of quality primary healthcare service in the mines. Mining, the heart of the South African economy, requires good health to its personnel to carry out operations. However, nurse managers, the leaders in a mining primary healthcare setting experience difficulties in their leadership roles.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to explore and describe the challenges in leadership roles experienced by nurse managers in a mining primary healthcare setting in South Africa.

Method

The study was conducted in a mining primary healthcare setting in West Rand, Gauteng province, South Africa. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive design that is contextual in nature, using a phenomenological approach, was adopted. Data from nurse managers in the mine were collected and data saturation was reached by the seventh participant. The study followed Giorgi’s four stages of the phenomenological descriptive data analysis. An expert independent coder in qualitative research coded the data, and consensus on the findings was reached with the researcher.

Results

Three subthemes emerged from the study: mining management and unions interfere with nurse managers’ leadership roles, incongruent mining primary healthcare policies and communication gap between nurse managers and mining management.

Conclusion

The triangulation of nurse managers, mining management and unions requires a collective fusion to directly tackle the challenges in leadership roles in mining primary healthcare.