Decision-making methods of the head nurses

Abstract

Introduction: Head nurses, in fact are the first line managers in providing care to the patients. Therefore, they must be able to do the proper decision-making and share their subordinates in this process for patient care.

Methods: This was an analytical descriptive, cross-sectional study. In this study, all head nurses of various wards of the educational hospitals in Isfahan were investigated. The data were collected using questionnaires.

Results: The results showed that decision-making methods of head nurses were consultative, participative and autocratic (55.8%, 42.1% and 2.1%, respectively). Delegating method had no application. There was a significant relationship between decision making methods and personal characteristics such as sex, marital status and management experience of head nurses.

Conclusion: Management and decision-making are mutual process and subordinates development levels affect the decision-making style of the managers. Perhaps head nurses used more consultative and participative methods in their decision-making based on organizational values and nursing management structure of the educational hospitals. Given the fact that the quality of providing nursing care and patient satisfaction are low, the efficiency of current decision-making methods is in doubt.