Holding the frontline

Date Issued:: 2011
Summary:: Within the current context of the healthcare environment, the charge nurse role has become very important for safety and positive outcomes. There is little known about the role from the perspective of the charge nurse. This qualitative descriptive exploratory study examined the experience of being a charge nurse in acute care practice, and describes how charge nurses live caring in their support of nurses and patients. Ray's (1989, 2006) theory of Bureaucratic Caring, Swanson's (2008) caring attributes and leadership, and Boykin and Schoenhofer's (2001) theory of Nursing as Caring provided the theoretical lenses through which study findings were viewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 charge nurses in 4 acute care facilities. Eight themes emerged from an inductive analysis of the data describing the experience of being a charge nurse in acute care practice: Creating a Safety Net, Monitoring for Quality, Showing the Way, Completing the Puzzle, Managing the Flow, Mak ing a Difference, Putting Out Fires, and Keeping Patients Happy. Participants also were asked questions about how they provide support to staff nurses and patients. Themes that reflected how charge nurses live caring in their support of staff and patients were: Jumping in the Trenches, Nurturing Staff Growth, Offering Authentic Presence, and Looking after Nurses. Additionally, the researcher used methods of narrative inquiry to get the participants to share stories of how they lived caring in their support of nurses and patients. Recommendations included the need to elevate the visibility of the charge nurse role and its importance to the organization, and provide support for leadership development. Job descriptions and competencies for charge nurses must reflect the complexity of the environment.

Title:	Holding the frontline: the experience of being a charge nurse in an acute care setting.	617 views 516 downloads
Name(s):	Eggenberger, Terry L. Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Type of Resource:	text
Genre:	Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance:	monographic
Date Issued:	2011
Publisher:	Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form:	electronic
Extent:	xii, 149 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s):	English
Summary:	Within the current context of the healthcare environment, the charge nurse role has become very important for safety and positive outcomes. There is little known about the role from the perspective of the charge nurse. This qualitative descriptive exploratory study examined the experience of being a charge nurse in acute care practice, and describes how charge nurses live caring in their support of nurses and patients. Ray's (1989, 2006) theory of Bureaucratic Caring, Swanson's (2008) caring attributes and leadership, and Boykin and Schoenhofer's (2001) theory of Nursing as Caring provided the theoretical lenses through which study findings were viewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 charge nurses in 4 acute care facilities. Eight themes emerged from an inductive analysis of the data describing the experience of being a charge nurse in acute care practice: Creating a Safety Net, Monitoring for Quality, Showing the Way, Completing the Puzzle, Managing the Flow, Mak ing a Difference, Putting Out Fires, and Keeping Patients Happy. Participants also were asked questions about how they provide support to staff nurses and patients. Themes that reflected how charge nurses live caring in their support of staff and patients were: Jumping in the Trenches, Nurturing Staff Growth, Offering Authentic Presence, and Looking after Nurses. Additionally, the researcher used methods of narrative inquiry to get the participants to share stories of how they lived caring in their support of nurses and patients. Recommendations included the need to elevate the visibility of the charge nurse role and its importance to the organization, and provide support for leadership development. Job descriptions and competencies for charge nurses must reflect the complexity of the environment.
Summary:	Charge nurse participants did not dialogue explicitly about their functions in terms of communication and intraprofessional team building. Since charge nurses have an increasing involvement with mentoring novice nurses and new staff, they would benefit from developing coaching skills. Given the current environment, their responsibilities in these areas may need to be better articulated so that they can focus on increasing these abilities.
Identifier:	729376567 (oclc), 3170952 (digitool), FADT3170952 (IID), fau:3628 (fedora)
Note(s):	by Terry L. Eggenberger. Signature page missing one signature and the date. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. Includes bibliography. Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s):	Nursing services -- Administration Nurse and patient Nursing -- Philosophy Nursing -- Decision making Clinical competence
Held by:	FBoU FAUER
Persistent Link to This Record:	http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170952
Use and Reproduction:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution:	FAU

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