Experiences of nurses practising mindfulness during self-leadership in delivering a rapid response system for general wards in a private hospital in Gauteng

BACKGROUND: The increased complexity of the nursing care needs of patients and acuity in general wards present nursing care challenges for nurses. Self-led nurses are attentive, taking responsibility for activating the rapid response service when a patient is starting to deteriorate. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to describe nurses’ experiences practising mindfulness during self-leadership in delivering a rapid response system (RRS) in a private hospital in Gauteng. METHOD: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was followed. Homogenous purposive sampling was used and a total of eight focus groups were conducted. Focus groups durations were between 45 min and 60 min. The data analysis was carried out through open coding on Atlas.ti using the noticing things, collecting things and thinking about things (NCT) approach. An independent coder met with the researcher during a consensus meeting and finalised the analysis. RESULTS: The findings indicated an underlying theme of nurses being mindful in their self-leadership through the development of self-motivation and self-direction in the RRS. Three categories with six subcategories emerged from the data analysis, namely self-motivation in an RRS by the team, self-direction through role-modelling to peers and training. CONCLUSION: Nurses practised mindfulness during self-leadership, utilising behavioural and natural reward approaches and constructive thought patterns. These findings could assist management with developing training programmes for nurses.