Global issues for nursing leadership

Mary Gobbi

Douglas, M.K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D.F., Calllister, L.C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale, J., Milstead, J., Nardi, J., and Purnell, L. (2015) ‘Guidelines for implementing culturally competent nursing care’,  Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25 (2): 109–121. 

This paper proposes international  guidelines to enable nurses to implement culturally competent care irrespective of their setting. The focus is on how nurses should advocate for their clients. They outline 10 guidelines which, they argue, form the basis for practising culturally competent nursing care. As a nurse leader, not only should you  review these guidelines to help inform your own practice, but you should consider their implications when supervising others and  leading teams,   seeking resources, determining what knowledge is needed  to deliver care and where such information can be found. There are very informative summary tables to help guide and audit your practise and there is an excellent section on terminology.

Kantanen, K., Kaunonen, M.,  Helminen, M. and Suominen, T. (2015)  ‘The development and pilot of an instrument for measuring nurse managers’ leadership and management competencies’, Journal of Research in Nursing, 20 (8): 667–677.

Quite simply, this paper outlines the research process whereby a set of nurse manager and leadership competences were identified, constructed and validated in Finland (the NMLMC scale). The competences comprised two types, those general competences required in a health care setting and the specific competences that are necessary when professional expertise is necessary for the role. For details of the competences themselves, you would need to contact the authors. The debate concerning the challenges of designing and using such a tool are well debated in the article.

Beck, D.M., Dossey, B.M. and Rushton, C.H. (2013) ‘Building the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health – NIGH: can we engage and empower the public voices of nurses worldwide?’, Nursing Science Quarterly,26 (4):  366–371.

This paper is for those who have a concern for social justice and seek to improve global as well as local health to help implement the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The paper focuses on the combined role and impact of individual nurses, as well as those in leadership positions. The framework is rooted in Nightingale’s global approach in her advocacy for a ‘Healthy World’. The paper questions how might Nightingale have used modern media? How can nurses  be ‘grassroots to global’ to share their public voices for the benefit of improving global health? They use the phrase  ‘daring, caring and sharing’ together to demonstrate how individuals can make a difference by working together in a global context. A specific example of improving global maternal health is used to demonstrate what can be achieved through this approach.