Nursing Management of Head Nurses Receiving the Outstanding Award

The objective of this research is to describe the management experiences of the head nurses who received the outstanding award for following the Hermeneutic phenomenology research methodology. Information was provided by the fourteen head nurses who received the outstanding award from the department of nursing of one tertiary hospital. The information was obtained by in-depth interviews. An exact transcription of the interviews was analyzed following the Diekelman's method, and the results are as follows:

1)         Self-development: Head nurses take the initiative to learn from the senior head nurses, who they believe are excellent role models. The head nurses enthusiastically focus on personal development, gaining up-to-date knowledge and learning to use it as they improve their ability to supervise in their work areas. Learning to have balance in their lives is considered very important. To achieve this balance, they finish a day’s work and leave it behind as they go home. At home they focus on family and relax the body and soul.

2)         Human development , head nurses have the human management and create the good environment for working, support the staff to generate the work for learning and self-development , provide the training or higher education for supporting the ability in varie side , giving the job follow the staffs’skill, knowledge and ability, open the opportunity for making the decisions by them own, more develop the staffs’s ablity , Head nurses will be the consultant and solving both working problems or personal problems for the staffs, in addition to attempt to build up the working environment as the second house of staffs , warmness , good relation, helping each other and would like to work.

3)         Work development: Head nurses are assigned very important tasks. Work planning, creating projects that benefit patients and the wards, standardization of work methods and practices, and the coordination of interdisciplinary teams for patient care are some of the major responsibilities. Additionally, the head nurses must be sincere in their intentions when they encourage hard work and achievement. They must be able to justify their management techniques and work planning. Head nurses feel a sense of responsibility for the happiness in the lives of their staff members. Although the head nurses have these responsibilities, they also must understand the division between the work force and management as it relates to the organization. Finally, they feel very proud to be nurses and they love their work. This helps to keep good relations within the organization.

Understanding the results of the head nurses experiences who won the outstanding award, the nurse administrations are better able to plan for the development of other head nurses.