Aga Khan University -School of Nursing and Midwifery, P.O. Box 39340, 00623 Nairobi, Kenya.
BMC Nurs. 2015 Mar 14;14:13. doi: 10.1186/s12912-015-0063-0. eCollection 2015.
Nurses' involvement in health policy development ensures that health services are: safe, effective, available and inexpensive. Nursing history reveals several legendary nurse leaders who have influenced policy and the course of nursing and health care. In the recent times there have been concerns regarding the availability of effective leaders physically, symbolically and functionally at clinical, organizational and national levels, who can effectively influence health policy. Exerting influence in the policy arena requires that nurse leaders acquire attributes that enable them to be effective in policy development activity. This paper reports part of a larger study whose purpose included: "build consensus on leadership attributes necessary for nurse leaders' participation in health policy development in East Africa".
A Delphi survey was utilized and included the following criteria: expert panelists, three iterative rounds, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and building consensus. The study included purposively selected sample of national nurse leaders (expert panelists) from the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The study was conducted in three iterative rounds. Seventy eight (78) expert panelists were invited to participate in the study and 37 (47%) participated in the first round of these; 24 (64.8%) participated in the second round and all invited in the third round 24 (100%) participated. Data collection was done using questionnaires and collected qualitative and quantitative data. Data analysis was done utilizing the principles of qualitative analysis in the first round and descriptive statistics in the second and third rounds.
The study achieved consensus on the essential leadership attributes for nurse leaders' participation in health policy and include being able to: influence; communicate effectively; build relationships; feel empowered and demonstrate professional credibility.
For nursing to participate in influencing the health policy and the health of the population, it will need to develop nurses with leadership attributes who are able to inspire change and influence the policy development process within the context where it exists. The leadership attributes identified in this study can be utilized to develop programmes geared to support nurses' participation in health policy activity.
护士参与卫生政策制定可确保卫生服务：安全、有效、可用且廉价。护理历史揭示了几位传奇的护士领袖，他们影响了政策和护理及医疗保健的发展进程。在最近一段时间，人们对临床、组织和国家各级是否有实际存在、象征性存在和功能上存在的有效领导人员表示担忧，这些人员能够有效地影响卫生政策。要在政策领域发挥影响力，护士领导者需要具备使其能够在政策制定活动中发挥作用的属性。本文报告了一项更大规模研究的一部分，该研究的目的包括：“就东非国家护士领导者参与卫生政策制定所需的领导属性达成共识”。
采用德尔菲法，包括以下标准：专家小组、三轮迭代、定性和定量分析以及达成共识。该研究包括从肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚和乌干达三个东非国家中选择的国家护士领导者（专家小组）的有针对性样本。该研究分三轮进行。邀请了 78 名专家小组参加研究，其中 37 名（47%）参加了第一轮；24 名（64.8%）参加了第二轮，所有受邀者均参加了第三轮。使用问卷进行数据收集，收集定性和定量数据。第一轮采用定性分析原则进行数据分析，第二轮和第三轮采用描述性统计进行数据分析。
该研究就护士领导者参与卫生政策制定所需的基本领导属性达成了共识，这些属性包括能够：施加影响、有效沟通、建立关系、感到有能力和展示专业可信度。
为了让护理参与影响卫生政策和人口健康，需要培养具备领导属性的护士，他们能够激发变革并在现有政策发展背景下影响政策制定过程。本研究中确定的领导属性可用于制定支持护士参与卫生政策活动的方案。
