Leadership Strategies to Support Resilience

Healthcare institutions have garnered national attention due to high levels of healthcare worker burnout, stress, and turnover rates. As the largest population of healthcare workers, nurses are often confronted with stressors that can lead to burnout in their practice and work environment. The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and magnified these stressors over the past year, such as emotional strain of caring for dying patients, long shifts, rotating schedules, increased workload demands, and high-stress work environments. Resilience, characterized by an ability to bounce back from adverse situations, has been found to play an important role in navigating and adapting to these work-related stressors. The purpose of this scholarly inquiry paper was to explore leadership strategies that encourage resilience among nursing staff. An integrative literature review found five strategies that nursing leaders can implement to encourage nursing resilience. Twenty-three articles were selected for the feasibility in supporting the purpose of this project. The interventions described include shared governance, debriefing, social support, mentorship, and education. This paper also provides a concept map that incorporates techniques that nurse leaders can utilize to promote resilient nursing teams. Nurse leaders are monumental in enhancing the work environment and the well-being of the nursing staff. As such, several key findings are recommended based on this literature review. Nurse leaders can incorporate shared governance, formal debriefing, mentorship programs, and education in their work environments. Additionally, it is recommended that nurse leaders spend time building personal relationships with nursing staff members to ensure value congruence among the team. The strategies identified cultivate nurse resilience, positively impact the work environment, and improve patient outcomes