Components of the Magnet® model provide structure for the future vision of nurse managers' work: A qualitative perspective of nurse managers

Aim To describe nurse managers' views of their work in the future. Background Ongoing reformation of health care organisations includes profound changes to nurse managers' work practices. Method A qualitative approach was applied to elicit views of nurse managers (n = 133) from eight Finnish specialized medical care hospitals through one open-ended question about their future work in November 2019. The acquired data were subjected to inductive thematic content analysis. Results Four themes were identified in the nurse managers' responses, indicating that they anticipated: 1) a shift from hierarchical leadership to shared governance, 2) an increasing focus on proactive and systematic work, 3) development of evidence-based practices and 4) improvement in the attractiveness and effectiveness of the organisation. Conclusions Nurse managers envisage their future work will follow the transformational leadership model. Shared governance and multidisciplinary team leading, with a stronger focus on proactive strategic planning will extend their power to influence decision-making. Administrative supporting systems will free more time from their daily routine work for interactions with staff. Implications for Nursing Management Clarification of the managers' job description along with administrative support systems is anticipated to strengthen leadership, facilitate management, enhance decision-making and increase the attractiveness and effectiveness of both health care organisations and nurse managers' work.

Automated summary

Nurse managers anticipate a future shift towards shared governance, proactive and systematic work, evidence-based practices, and an improvement in organisation attractiveness and effectiveness.