The Effect of Nurse Leader Qualification on Position Outcome: Systematic Review

Background: Nurse leaders influence policy, change, and outcomes on the part of patients and junior nurses, and they are critical in resolving conflicts and in decision making. A clear understanding of whether high qualifications or experience impact more on a nurse’s leader’s outcomes is necessary. Aims: To examine whether an advanced practice registered nurse with higher qualifications is considered by themselves and by junior colleagues to have better position outcomes than one who is in the same job level but who has lesser experience and less qualifications. Methods: This review followed the methodological framework for systematic reviews described in the PRISMA statement and PRISMA checklist and the Cochrane Collaboration procedures to review quantitative studies published between 1t January 2015 and 31 December 2023. Results : This review included thirteen articles after screening articles from six different databases. The settings for the studies included a private hospital (n=1, Turkey), medical centers at University of California (n=1, USA), general hospital setup (n=3; Egypt, Taiwan, Ethiopia), trauma hospital (n=1; Iran) and clinics (n=2, Sweden, South Africa), ICU (3 Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Ethiopia). In terms of study designs, all the studies were interventional with five described as quasi-experimental studies (pre-test and post-test studies designs) and 8 Cross-sectional study design studies (completed through surveys questionnaire). Key findings highlighted the impact of nurse academic qualification and experience on position outcomes. Conclusion: Quality of nursing care is dependable on nurse staff qualification as nurses with higher academic qualifications have better position outcome than those with inferior qualifications.