Review: The role of first line managers in healthcare organisations - a qualitative study on the work life experience of ward managers

摘要

This paper addresses the perennial dilemma of defining what leadership in nursing should look like. As the authors note, the nurse manager role was historically about the level of expertise in direct patient care. The rise of new managerialism (Traynor, 1999) created a new definition of leadership that meant that attention moved from clinical care to the management of the environment and the business performance. Ward leaders have, to some extent, been stuck in the middle with unresolved conflict between their clinical and managerial responsibilities and have often been perceived as failing to excel at either.