“Just Dive Right In!” Nurse Leaders’ Experiences of Challenging Times in Clinical Settings: A Phenomenological Study

Prolonged challenging times in nurse leadership in clinical settings such as crises related to public health (COVID-19), staffing shortages, budget cuts, organizational restructuring, implementations of major changes or regulatory scrutiny are sometimes unexpected. They require special efforts, strategic planning and resilience from nurse leaders since they are complicated to predict, they affect changes, routines, norms and functionality of systems. The confusion caused by the challenging times is reflected in the activities of nurse leaders, healthcare organizations and society. Nurse leaders need clear communication, instructions, actions and understanding from the administration to maintain the ambidexterity of the healthcare organization and individual support in challenging times.