Nursing leadership during COVID-19: Enhancing patient, family and workforce experience

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has challenged nurse leaders in ways that one could not imagine six months ago. Along with ongoing priorities of providing high quality, cost-effective and safe care, nurse leaders are also committed to creating environments that support excellence in patient and family experience. This article will provide exemplars of how nurse leaders used decisive decision-making, adapted to novel situations and issues, ensured reliable and safe delivery of care and engaged patients, families and their workforce to create excellent experiences of care during the pandemic. Throughout this crisis, nurse leaders have learned how to grapple with quick and often uncertain decision-making, adapted ways to engage patient and family amidst new care situations and operational policies, delivered care reliably with ever changing metrics and measures and created environments to support and bring smiles to nurses and other health care staff. New opportunities to care for and positively engage patients and families have emerged.