The Relationship Between Career Growth Of Undergraduate Nurses And Head Nurses' Leadership In The Third-grade Class-A Hospital

Objective:To investigate the status quo including both career growth of undergraduate nurses and head nurses' leadership in the third-grade class-A hospital,to examine the differences of career growth from demographic characteristics,to explore the relationship between career growth of undergraduate nurses and head nurses' leadership,then to find out an effective leadership that can promote career growth of undergraduate nurses,in addition to provide some reasonable suggestions for the management of nursing human resources,stabilizing the team of highly educated nurses,enhancing the ability of nursing and improving the satisfaction of patients.Methods:In the study,total 220 undergraduate nurses were obtained from 3 third-grade class-A general hospitals in Nan Chang from June to August in 2015.The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to measure leadership style of head nurses as perceived by nurses.Career Growth Scale was used to measure the level of career growth of undergraduate nurses and the personal information questionnaire.Results:1.The total average score of career growth of undergraduate nurses was(3.60±0.60).The average score of dimensins from high to low in turn were career capacity(4.32±0.53),career goal(3.70±0.81),promotion speed(3.14±0.82),salary increase(3.10±0.82).The nurse career growth differed across departments,human relations,position,number of night shifts per month,times of advanced studies,application of college entrance examination,career motivation,and different forms of postgraduates were statistically significant difference(P<0.05).2.The total average score of head nurse' transformational leadership(TF)was(2.95±0.66),and the average score of dimensins from high to low were inspirational motivation(3.11±0.70),idealized influence(3.03±0.69),intellectual stimulation(3.01±0.68),individual consideration(2.64±0.82).The total average score of head nurse' transactional leadership(TA)was(2.28±0.38),and the average score ofdimensins from high to low were active management by exception(3.29 ±0.59),contingent reward(3.02±0.67),passive management by exception(0.55± 0.67).3.The career growth of undergraduate nurses was positively correlated with head nurses' transformational leadership(r=0.631,P<0.01)and transactional leadership(r=0.501,P<0.01).The career growth of undergraduate nurses were correlated positively with all the dimensins of TF,contingent reward and active management by exception of TA(r=0.343~0.567,r=0.241~0.585,P<0.01);but negatively correlated with passive management by exception of TA(r=-0.171,P<0.05).4.Multiple linear regression analysis showed that TF with human relations(nurses under the contract and personnel agency system),career motivation(love for the profession),position(general teacher)and number of night shifts per month could explain 52.6% of the career growth of undergraduate nurses.Conclusions:1.Undergraduate nurses' career growth is on the middle level.The average score of career capacity was the highest,and the salary increase was the lowest.The factors that affected the career growth of undergraduate nurses were departments,human relations,position,number of night shifts per month and career motivation.2.The score of transformational leadership(TF)was higher than transactional leadership(TA)of head nurses as perceived by undergraduate nurses.The average score of active management by exception was the highest,and the passive management by exception was lowest.3.The career growth of undergraduate nurses was positively correlated with head nurses' TF and TA,but TF had the most impotant positively predictive impact on career growth.So the nurse managers should use the two leaderships,especially more TF to advance career growth of undergraduate nurses.But career growth of undergraduate nurses was negatively correlated with passive management by exception,it means that more passive management by exception,slowlyer career grow.4.In the management head nurse shuld take more transformational leadership,including using her charisma to influence nurses,calling for a positive attention to their career growth,meeting the reasonable needs of nurses,understanding their owncharacteristics,stimulating their intelligence,and then develop personalized measures to promote career growth.