NURSING LEADERSHIP FOR RETENTION OF NURSES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITAL OF KARACHI

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing is one of the most recognised and stressful fields practice globally; however, in Pakistan nursing ranks at 122nd position out of the 190 nations concerningthe quality of healthcare service provided. Objective: To evaluate the gap in the health care system in order to increase nurse retention and how nursing leadership can be beneficial in increasing the quality of the care. Method: The research was conducted from January 2019 to June 2019 in the 5public and private hospitals of Karachi with sample size 100. The nurses were randomly selected. Each nurse was given a questionnaire that was divided into two parts. The data collection was performed using a close-ended questionnaire constructed on 5-point Likert scale. The first part analyses the demographics characteristics whereas the second part assesses the impact of leadership on quality of care in the hospital setup. The collected data was analysed using a statistical software IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) Version 21.0. The data were normally distributed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The collected data was computed using ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Results; The quantitative analysis displayed that the majority of the nurse were in their prime age 28-32 years (32%), with least in 43-47 years (8%). Most of the subjects were educated with the majority of them having a bachelor's degree (59%), followed by Masters (22%), Diploma (15%) and Post Graduate (4%). The majority of the subjects worked in private hospitals (56%), subsequently, (28%) in public hospitals and semi-private hospital (16%). The majority of the subjects had experience of more than 15 years (11%), followed by more than 10 years (23%), and with lowest percentage having less than 2 years’ experience (21%). Qualitatively, no significant difference that is suggestive that the leadership style is not supportive and has a negative impact on the nurse attitude. Whereas the ANOVA results displayed no significance thus indicating the absence of nursing leadership practice which decreases the efficiency of the health care system. Conclusion: Nursing leadership is necessary for empowerment and better quality of care. Hospitals in Pakistan are still under the process to equip them with such leadership nevertheless, they are focusing on the training of these nurses for the future prospectus.