The impact of leadership on nurse burnout: a systematic literature review.

Abstract

Fletcher (2001) believed that the relationship between managers and nursing staff is crucial for understanding burnout. In the current times of crisis, with Covid-19 putting nursing staff under ever greater stress, the importance of understanding stress in the profession and suggesting ways that management can help alleviate it has never been more important. It has been suggested that leadership is an essential aspect of nurse management that can reduce nurses’ feelings of exhaustion and depersonalisation by enhancing their trust in the care services (Swansburg & Swansburg, 2002). In a systematic literature review a number of leadership styles were assessed. Broadly, it was seen that laissez faire management was the least effective in supporting nurses, and the style most likely to lead to disenchantment. The most effective style, coming from a range of studies, was transformational leadership. This was because transformational leadership appeared to make nursing staff feel included in the research process and this increased a sense of belonging and loyalty to the establishment.