By Rocío Bao
In the report “Texere. A Plan for a Nursing Leadership School”, María Teresa Soria Sarnago explains that her project consists of designing a leadership school for nursing management. “It is an complementary educational proposal for professional training to enhance skills, capabilities and attitudes”, she says.
The study was carried out to finish a Master’s Degree in Nursing Care Administration at the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Spain, and helped the student to graduate with honors.
Between 2010 and 2012, Soria Sarnago has been Assistant Director of Nursing at the Complex Hospital of Navarra and this role, in addition to her work as a nurse, has made it possible for her to draw up the report making use of her own experience.
In her study, she outlines at length the qualities that must be instilled in a leader in the nursing profession, defines the economic and social context that they must face, and provides arguments for developing people’s motivational, confidence and teamwork skills which will result in better quality care.
She also states that the main objective is to train people to find the qualities that make up a leader from within themselves, taking into account their principles, environment, skills and motivations.
She says that for the National Health System to function properly it requires effective leadership and outlines the factors that go into making a leader and the factors that could destabilize nursing professionals leading to a reduction in the amount of work they do, as well as the lack of training support and tools to help them cope with the demands of management roles.
“I have based my work on the project on the guide to good practice brought out by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). If the leader inspires confidence and teamwork, the professionals will feel more motivated and this will contribute to the provision of better quality care. Furthermore, it will result in less rotation of professionals, another factor that can help to improve care”, Soria told E-Health Reporter Latin America.
In addition, she described her motivation for designing Texere: “I’ve come up with this proposal in response to a need I have felt throughout my professional career – especially in the last few years, when I have held nursing management posts -providing professionals in our organization with the necessary leadership skills that will encourage healthy working environments”. She added: “Many of them express the need for training to acquire knowledge and skills to perform better at work”.
Finally, the nurse emphasized the importance of investing in talent to develop the personal and professional skills of workers: “Development of the talent of professionals will ensure that organizations are more prosperous places, encouraging creativity, initiative and innovation. All this will lead to an increase in professional motivation”.
“I believe that the creation of a leadership school could be, in the long term, a beneficial alternative for the organization, leading to effective, efficient leadership”, Soria Sarnago concluded.
