Discipline: Nursing
The roles of nursing practitioners, whether at the staff nurse or management levels, are rapidly changing globally. The roles are changing due to several emerging trends like the global nursing shortage which causes rapid turnover of staff, the increasing complexity of care as the global patient population ages, and advances in treatment modalities and care due to technological improvements. Given the scenario of rapid turnover of nurse managers and staff nurses due to global nursing shortage, the researcher sees an emerging trend towards a decline in the quality of nursing care. In most healthcare settings, the majority of the nurses are new graduates and are managed by nurse managers who are either newly promoted or still in “acting” capacity. During the researcher’s term as Director of Nursing, she experienced the urgent need for these nurse managers to acquire the core competencies for them to adequately maintain the desired quality of patient care. It is because of this perceived need that the researcher has chosen to undertake this study.