Peer to peers nurse managers’ on supporting structures and systems they support in a resource: Constrained setting in Kenya

Abstract

This is an excerpt from a wider study on job description of nurse managers. Aimed to describe the experiences and perceptions of nurse managers towards the various factors that affect their roles as nurse managers in the hospital. Methods: This was a descriptive phenomenological peer research design, drawing lived experiences and perceptions of nurse managers. Study was done in February 2012 in a 600 bed public hospital in Kenya, purposively targeting all the 16 consenting nurse managers working in the institution: 13 took part in the mixed study, 6 in the focus group discussion and 2 in the face to face in-depth interview. Experiences and incidents collected became the unit of analysis into 5 key points. They were subjected to secondary analysis resulting in this qualitative report. Results: Problem Recognition: Nurse as employee, awareness of the demanding job, reflecting. Reflexivity on the part of the peer researcher. Some respondents disagreed that the job was satisfying to them. Some apprehension was obvious. Commitment: Accepting the role, altruism, duplicating and reciprocating. All respondents agreed that they did work that someone else was supposed to do. Exhaustion: High expectations, lowly appreciated, stagnating but not redundant, wearing out, frustration. Lack of recognition, supplies and equipment came out strongly as limiting factors in the performance of their complex roles. The nurse managers felt generally overworked and were not paid in commensurate. Discussions: There is great need to clearly outline the nurse managers’ role in the hospital as their job description. Their roles were either complex, multidimensional or both. There is need to equip the nurse managers with leadership skills.