Influence of Nurses' Self-leadership on Individual and Team Members' Work Role Performance

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine correlations between nurses' self-leadership and individual work role performance and correlations between self-leadership in nursing units and team members' work role performance. METHODS: Participants were 202 conveniently selected general nurses from 5 general hospitals in Korea. The study was carried out on 35 nursing units. Data were collected during February 2015 with self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: For factors affecting individual work role performance, self-expectation, self-goal setting, constructive thought, clinical career in the present nursing unit and marital status accounted for 44.0% of proficiency, while self-expectation, self-goal setting, constructive thought, and marital status accounted for 42.3% of adaptivity. Self-expectation, self-goal setting, constructive thought, self-reward, clinical career in the present nursing unit and position accounted for 26.4% of proactivity. In terms of team members' work role performance, self-reward and self-expectation in nursing units explained 29.0% of team members' proficiency. Self-reward and self-expectation in nursing units explained 31.6% of team members' adaptivity, and self-reward in nursing units explained 16.8% of team members' proactivity. CONCLUSION: The results confirm that nurses' self-leadership affects not only individual self-leadership but also team members' work role performance. Accordingly, to improve nurses' work role performance in nursing units of nursing organizations, improvement in nursing environment based on self-leadership education is necessary and nurses' tasks rearranged so they can appreciate work-autonomy and challenges of work.

Analysis of Mission Statements and Organizational Performance of Hospitals in South Korea

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine mission statements and their elements and to investigate correlations between mission statements and organizational performance. METHODS: The current research was a descriptive study based on the examination of mission statements of 353 hospitals that posted mission statements on their webpage and 92 hospitals that made their income statements public. RESULTS: The most common mission element was 'identification of principal services', which accounted for 92.6%. Mission statements of hospitals included the average of 4.82 mission elements out of 9, and the objective of medical quality improvement was 0.81 among 6 objectives of IOM (Institute of Medicine). Net profit of hospitals with mission statements that have above average number of mission elements were significantly higher (t=2.71, p =.008) than those of other hospitals. Net profit was significantly correlated with mission statements (r=.26, p <.001), and mission elements (r=.29, p <.001). CONCLUSION: The results of the study empirically reveal that mission statements in the hospital affect organizational performance. That is, better organizational performance is shown for hospitals with better, more diversified, and more firmly stated mission statements which include identification of target customers, identification of principal services, contribution to society as a non-profit organization, and concern for employees.

Validity and Reliability of the Korean Version of the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate

PURPOSE: This study was done to develop and test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate (PACSLAC-K) in assessing pain of elders with dementia living in long-term care facilities. METHODS: The PACSLAC-K was developed through forward-backward translation techniques. Survey data were collected from 307 elders with dementia living in 5 long-term care facilities in Korea. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, Spearman's rho, paired t-test, ROC (receiver operation characteristic) curve with the SPSS/WIN (20.0) program. RESULTS: The PACSLAC-K showed high internal consistency (.90), inter-rater reliability (.86), intra-rater reliability (.93), and high concurrent validity (.74) in paired t-test with PAINAD. Discriminant validity also showed a significant difference compared with no pain. The PACSLAC-K showed a sensitivity of .93, specificity of .88, and Area Under the Curve of .95 in the ROC curve. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrate that PACSLAC-K is useful in assessing pain for elders with dementia living in long-term care facilities.