Development of a leadership competency enhancement program for In-charge nurse at the emergency department, Loei Hospital

Abstract

This action research aimed to study the development of a leadership competency enhancement program and compare leadership competency before and after joining the program among In-charge nurses in the emergency department of Loei Hospital. The sample group was purposively selected, consisting of 11 In-charge nurses and 5 mentor nurses. The research instrument was leadership competency enhancement program for In-charge nurses with a content validity index of 1.00. The data collection instruments were leadership competency and behavioral assessment form and a role performance observation form for In-charge nurses with a content validity index (IOC) of 0.6-1.0, 0.8-1.0, respectively, and a reliability of 0.98 and 0.98, respectively. General data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Comparative analysis of competency before and after joining the program was performed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The research results found that the leadership competency enhancement program for In-charge nurses in the emergency department, Loei Hospital, consisted of 4 steps: 1) Planning: Situation analysis through group discussions revealed that nurses were not confident in their roles and that the organization did not have a clear development model. Then, brainstorming was conducted to design a competency enhancement program, creating a handbook for In-charge nurses, a 2-day workshop, training in 6 role-playing scenarios using 4 modules of transformational leadership to practice problem solving, and 1-month practical training in real situations with mentor nurses. 2) Implementation of the program 3) Observation: It was found that In-charge nurses had higher leadership competency after participating in the program than before participating in the program with statistical significance at 0.05 (Z = -2.936, p = 0.003). 4) Reflection: Discuss the results and jointly develop a leadership competency enhancement program for head nurses in the emergency department, Loei Hospital.