Exploring the views of nurses and supervisors on leadership competencies for enhanced primary healthcare services

Abstract

High-quality patient care in primary healthcare (PHC) settings depends on the professional skills of nurse supervisors. Competent nurse supervisors can efficiently manage resources such as staff, tools, and workflows to provide the best possible patient care. The purpose of this study was to determine the perspectives of nurse supervisors and nurse managers on the competencies required of nurse supervisors for improved service delivery in PHC settings. This study used a descriptive-quantitative design and was conducted in the north-central regions of Saudi Arabia. The researchers used convenience sampling to recruit 107 PHC nurse supervisors and 110 nurses. The study found that most of the respondents were female supervisors (93%), staff aged between 20 and 44 years (88%), graduate staff (48%), and supervisors with more than five years of hospital experience (44.4%). According to the nurses' perception, the communication skills of the supervisors were low (M=8.42, SD=1.12). On the other hand, nurse managers rated themselves as having low communication skills (mean=7.64, SD=2.00) and financial management skills (mean=7.87, SD=1.95). The study found that nurses believed their supervisors were competent. However, both staff and supervisors identified a need for improvement in communication skills. Financial management skills were perceived as weak by nurse supervisors.