Nurse managers’ competencies: A scoping review

Abstract

.Aim : To describe and synthesize scientific literature on nurse managers’ competencies. Background : The key strategy for the success of health organisations currently re-sides in the capacity of the nurse manager to develop advanced competencies in management. However, there is a lack of systematic reviews that synthesize knowl-edge about nurse managers’ competencies. Evaluation : A scoping review was conducted using electronic databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Key issues : After the first analysis, 392 competencies were observed from 76 stud-ies. Finally, 53 competencies were grouped according to their characteristics. The two most- cited competencies were communication and finance. Conclusions : Knowing the competencies required by nurse managers can help or-ganisations create strategies to develop competent managers. In addition, from the results we can infer what might be the core competencies, since 22 main competen-cies from the total number were identified. Implications for Nursing Management : The competencies identified constitute the body of knowledge necessary for nurse managers. In addition, it is possible to gener-ate a pathway for learning and professional development for nurses before they work at the microlevel of management. The starting point for this pathway could be the 22 core competencies.S