Abstract
To explore nurses' perceptions of nurse managers' (NMs') communicative relationships that encourage nurses' decisions to buy-in to organisational initiatives to enhance patients' experiences with care (PEC).
The role of the nurse to patient experience is well established, yet little is known about how the communicative relationship between manager and nurse relates to nurse buy-in to PEC initiatives.
An exploratory qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 15 nurses from two inpatient medical-surgical units in a large acute care hospital using semi-structured interviews.
Three themes were identified. The communicative relationship was developed and strengthened through the manager's: (a) multimodal approach to communicating and influencing, (b) engaging and supporting staff and (c) promoting staff-led decision-making.
Nurses in our study who reported having a strong communicative relationship with their NM perceived that this relationship encouraged their buy-in and engagement in PEC initiatives.
An assessment of the communication between the frontline NM and his or her team is important for understanding why initiatives to support PEC are or are not yielding desired results.