A competency-based performance appraisal for nurse leaders

Introduction: An employee performance appraisal is used internationally to improve employee performance, productivity, efficiency and effectiveness in nursing care. The purpose of the study was to assess the performance and efficiency of nurse leaders at all levels of leadership, identify deficient areas for each individual leader and propose improvements. Methods: Two surveys were conducted in 15 Slovenian public hospitals. The sample from the first survey included 1311 nurses who assessed the level of competencies of their immediate superiors. The sample from the second survey included 236 nurse leaders. Data envelopment analysis is used in this study to develop a model of practice outputs and inputs to help identify the most efficient nurse leaders. Results: Significant differences exist in the performance appraisal among the leaders in nursing. A total of 203 (86 %) nurse leaders are defined as inefficient and could improve their leadership performance. On average, inefficient leaders could improve their behaviour most in the areas of generic leadership competencies (by 51.7 %) and interprofessional relationships (by 47.7 %). Discussion and conclusion: The areas with the worst performance are generic leadership competencies and interprofessional relationships where also the most significant improvements are possible. Nurse leaders and hospital managers can use the analysis results to determine in which areas the leaders in their organisation should improve the levels of their competencies