The Ideal attributes of chief nurses in Europe: a Delphi study for WHO Europe / by Deborah Hennessy and Carolyn Hicks

25 p. Advancing the role of the Chief Nurse in member countries of WHO: Europe will necessitate the systematic selection and recruitment of suitable postholders, together with a critical pathway for development both of new recruits and existing personnel. To inform this process, it is essential that...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hennessy, Deborah, Hicks, Carolyn, World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe
Language:English
Published: Copenhagen : WHO Regional Office for Europe 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/107368
Description
Summary:25 p. Advancing the role of the Chief Nurse in member countries of WHO: Europe will necessitate the systematic selection and recruitment of suitable postholders, together with a critical pathway for development both of new recruits and existing personnel. To inform this process, it is essential that the attributes considered to be important in a Chief Nurse are identified. To this end, a Delphi study was initially undertaken of 22 member states. Consensus was reached by the second round, in which 12 countries participated. Sixteen qualities were deemed to be important and these are listed in rank orderbelow:1. Communication 9. Decision-making/problem solving2. Team-working 10. Personal qualities3. Strategic thinking 11. Promotion of nursing4. Professional credibility 12. Good management5. Leadership 13.5 Conflict resolution6. Political astuteness 13.5 Information handling7. Decency/integrity 15. Research skills8. Innovation 16. Physical characteristics Of the 9 countries for which statistical analysis of the degree of agreement was possible, 8 demonstrated a significant level of accord (Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, England, Iceland, Sweden, Hungary and Switzerland), with only Finland showing no intra-country accord. The qualities identified can be used to inform the future development of the Chief Nurse role in Europe.