Leadership
Sep 29, 2025
Leading with Care: Building Wellbeing in Perioperative Nursing 🏥
Leadership in the perioperative environment encompasses more than just clinical decision making – done well, it can foster nurse wellbeing, sustain resilience, retention, and high quality patient care. From the perspective of perioperative nurse health and wellness, effective leadership is both preventative and promotive, preventing burnout and distress while promoting engagement, psychological safety, and healthy work–life balance ❤️.
Leadership that is relational, emotionally intelligent, and responsive to the human needs of staff is essential. In the perioperative space where stress, rapid patient turnover, and team interdependence are constant, leaders who demonstrate empathy, open communication, and recognition help buffer against emotional exhaustion 🌿. Leaders utilising emotional intelligence can manage conflict, negotiate among multidisciplinary teams, and cultivate a positive work culture that supports retention and wellbeing.
Transformational and engaging leadership styles have been linked to better nurse wellbeing outcomes. Leaders who empower their teams, provide autonomy, and foster professional growth can increase intrinsic motivation, reduce burnout, and strengthen engagement 🌟.
Leaders must advocate structurally for conditions that support nurse wellbeing. This means ensuring adequate staffing, safe workloads, clear rostering practices, and access to rest and recovery 😴. Leadership should also champion evidence based decision making, integrating research with local context to design supportive policies. Leaders must also attend to their own wellbeing as a model for their teams. Self care, boundary setting, and reflective practice help leaders stay grounded, credible, and resilient.
Relational, transformational, evidence informed, and self aware leadership in perioperative nursing improves overall nurse wellbeing. By leading in ways that nurture psychological safety, structural supports, professional growth, and wellness, perioperative nurse leaders can foster a culture in which nurses thrive.
Build Knowledge ✅
Improve Safety ✅
References:
Australian College of Nursing. (2015). Nurse leadership white paper. Australian College of Nursing. https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/white-paper-nurse-leadership.pdf
Journal of Perioperative Nursing. (2025). Achieving change through clinical leadership: The rewarding journey of advocating for perioperative nurses and nurse surgical assistants in Australia. Journal of Perioperative Nursing, 38(2), Article 1385. https://doi.org/10.26550/2209-1092.1385
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