Leadership Practices as Perceived by Emergency Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Structural and Psychological Empowerment

INTRODUCTION: To our knowledge, no studies have explored leadership practices in relation to structural and psychological empowerment among nurses during COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine those relationships in Jordanian nurses working in emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A descriptive, correlational cross-sectional design was used in this study. The participants were emergency nurses working at 3 large hospitals in Jordan. The participants were surveyed via an online questionnaire between September 2021 and January 2022. A total of 3 valid scales were included in the questionnaire to assess the nurses’ clinical leadership practices in relation to perceived structural and psychological empowerment. RESULTS: A total of 193 emergency nurses were surveyed, of which 116 participants (60.1%) were male, and their average age was 29.64 (SD 4.74) years. Nurses had a moderate level of clinical leadership practices 12.50 (SD 1.65), moderate level of perceived structural empowerment 3.67 (SD 0.44), and a high-moderate level of perceived psychological empowerment 5.96 (SD 0.65). Clinical leadership practices were shown to have a significant positive relationship with structural (r = 0.65; P < .01) and psychological (r = 0.74; P < .01) empowerment. Predictors of clinical leadership practices of the Jordanian emergency nurses during COVID-19 were ranked in order of significance; structural and psychological empowerments were the highest significant predictors. However, patient to nurse ratio (>6 patients/nurse) was the lowest significant predictor. DISCUSSION: Although structural and psychological empowerments play a pivotal role in predicting the leadership practices of the emergency nurses in Jordan, the nurses should enhance their leadership style for better management and effective communication during critical situations such as pandemics.