Healthcare Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors of nurse managers and critical thinking skills of their registered nurse staff.
METHODOLOGY Using a convenience sample of registered nurses (RNs) currently licensed in Virginia, with at least one year of acute care experience and six months with their manager, at a four-hospital health system in Virginia, 36 RNs completed the Leadership Practices Inventory and California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST: Facione et al. 2002).
The typical respondent was: Female (94%), with the majority reporting their age as 40 years or over (78%), 10 years or more experience as a RN (58%), an Associate degree (44%; another 39% had a bachelor’s degree), with one-to-three years working with their current nurse managers (43%), and worked 33-40 hours per week (72%) in 12-hour shifts (72%).
KEY FINDINGS The most frequently engaged in leadership practice of nurse managers as viewed by their staff nurses was Enable, followed by Encourage, Model, and Inspire, and then Challenge. No statistically significant relationships were found between any of the five leadership practices and the CCTST total score.