Nurse leader empowerment, challenges and coping strategies among nursing leaders in Pakistan: A qualitative descriptive study

Abstract

Objective: Nursing is considered a growing profession worldwide, but nurses in developing world like Pakistan face challenges for their empowerment within and inter professions. The overwhelming feeling of being oppressed shatters nurses’ confidence and self-esteem and hinders their growth and development of the profession as well.Methods: To guide professional growth and empowerment of nursing in Pakistan, a qualitative descriptive study was aimed to discover challenges, strategies and outcomes of empowerment of nurse leaders in Pakistan. Twelve nurses serving as leaders in nursing organization of Pakistan, who fulfilled inclusive criteria were interviewed about their perception of the challenges, strategies and outcomes of empowerment for Pakistani nurses.Results and Conclusions: Nurses in Pakistan are facing great turbulence regarding their professional empowerment, but nursing leaders are striving hard at personal, institutional and government levels to help nurse understand the dynamics of challenges of empowerment and adopt appropriate strategies to attain and retain empowerment.