Abstracts Category : Other

The Influence of Leadership on Nursing Professionalism

by Lorelle Anne Wuerz

Leadership style has been studied from various perspectives including transformational leadership and the components of leadership competencies needed to exhibit transformational styles. However, there was a gap in the literature on the influence of leadership style on nursing professional behaviors and overall professionalism. The purpose of this descriptive, phenomenological study was to understand and explore the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of staff nurses on leadership style and its influence on professional nursing behaviors working in an inpatient care unit at a tertiary care center. The theory of transformational leadership was the conceptual framework for the study. A phenomenological approach was used for the qualitative interview with data analysis using a descriptive method. A total of 8 nursing participants were interviewed revealing that nurses had similar thoughts on their perceptions of professional characteristics and leadership driving professional socialization. Nurses articulated a practical knowledge of professional activities with little to no connection to a larger sense of professional identity, theory in practice, and ethical obligations to the future of the profession of nursing. There is a noted lack of professionalism seen in the discipline of nursing. Professional registered nurses and heath care leaders in nursing can benefit from this study. Understanding how leadership style can influence nursing not only impacts positive social change and shapes the future of the discipline of nursing, but can also potentially impact patient care outcomes and patient.