To w ar ds t he T ra ns it io n to a n Em po w er ed a nd R es ili en t L ea de rs hi p of N ur si ng P ro fe ss io na ls 1 María Guadalupe Moreno Monsiváis https://orcid.org /0000-0002-7152-0244 Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México. maria.morenom@uanl.mx Editorial Towards the Transition to an Empowered and Resilient Leadership of Nursing Professionals Keywords (Source: DeCS) Empowerment; health facilities; leadership; nursing staff; psycho- logical resilience. Palabras clave (Fuente: DeCS) Empoderamiento; instituciones de salud; liderazgo; personal de en- fermería; resiliencia psicológica. Palavras-chave (Fonte: DeCS) Empoderamento; instalações de saúde; liderança; recursos huma- nos de enfermagem; resiliência psicológica. Hacia la transición a un liderazgo empoderado y resiliente en los profesionales de enfermería Rumo à transição de uma liderança empoderada e resiliente nos profissionais de enfermagem DOI: 10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1 Para citar este editorial / To reference this editorial / Para citar este editorial Moreno-Monsiváis MG. Towards the transition to an empowered and resilient leadership of nursing professionals. Aquichan. 2022; 22(4): e2241. DOI: https://doi. org /10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7152-0244 mailto:maria.morenom@uanl.mx https://doi.org/10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1 https://doi.org/10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1 https://doi.org/10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1 https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.5294/aqui.2022.22.4.1&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2022-10-21 2 A Q U IC H A N | eI SS N 2 02 7- 53 74 | A Ñ O 22 - V O L. 2 2 N º 4 - CH ÍA , C O LO M BI A - O CT U BR E- D IC IE M BR E 20 22 | e 22 41 Introduction One of the priority goals of health systems internationally is to guar- antee services that are safe, sustainable, fair, equitable, and accepted by the community, which demands health professionals leading those organizations to be agents of change and to have adequate abilities. A competent workforce is essential to accomplish quality health at- tention. The World Health Organization recognizes sanitary work- ers are fundamental for establishing solid and resilient health sys- tems that contribute to reaching their objectives. However, it is also evident the need to strengthen the institutions’ capacities to pro- mote efficient health human resource leadership with professional abilities that respond to the population’s health needs (1). Nursing professionals represent the majority group within health systems and play an essential role in all attention levels, with a central axis around care, result evaluation, and efficiency. They are firsthand witnesses of the challenges sanitary organizations face. Nevertheless, internationally there are areas of opportunity that limit their transition to effective transformational leadership due to the organization demands’ complexity and the dominant lead- ership style that influences decision-making processes (2). These complicated organizational environments challenge the institutions while they also create opportunities to develop strategies looking to strengthen nursing leadership (3). Empowered and Resilient Leadership Nursing professionals face complex and even more demanding situ- ations in their working environments, which is why it is fundamental to promote their leadership regionally, nationally, and internation- ally, as well as to have as a principal objective the development of abilities that support their health decision-making. It is relevant to consolidate a transformational, empowered, and resilient leader- ship that contributes to establishing quality, stable, and efficient health systems, which are the product of a transformative, flexible, and proactive vision. There is a need for leaders that can recognize the dangers of adver- sities and search for the best alternatives and face them. It is also determinant they have capacities, abilities, and initiatives to act before prospective scenarios and to support and strengthen those around them (2, 4). It is considered relevant to inspire the development of leadership abilities in nursing professionals that allow them to influence deci- sion-making at all levels and implement innovative and evolutionary management, occupying a central position to reach the organizational and collective objectives in the work-life with responsibility, autono- my, trust, and transparency to improve health attention quality (5). To w ar ds t he T ra ns it io n to a n Em po w er ed a nd R es ili en t L ea de rs hi p of N ur si ng P ro fe ss io na ls 3 According to literature revision, empowerment favors resilient lead- ership and autonomy. Empowerment is the capacity to promote development, improve performance and attitudes, and create au- tonomy and added commitment and satisfaction (6). Resilience is people’s ability to face adversity, overcome obstacles, and generate even more growth, professional and personal. Resilient leaders al- low the building of positive interpersonal relationships, the devel- opment of emotional intelligence, the creation of balance—at work and personal, and the reflection on successes as effective strategies for overcoming challenges (7). The most empowered nursing professionals are capable of driving and consolidating resilient leadership (2, 4). Other variables associ- ated with empowerment and resilience are self-leadership (6) and self-efficacy (8). Self-leadership refers to a person’s ability to reach their objectives and obtain good results, which generates a feeling of satisfaction for the accomplished goals and the overcame diffi- culties, favors autonomous leadership, and contributes to being re- silient (9). Self-efficacy is people’s believes in their ability to perform a task or an activity regarding the knowledge and the course of ac- tion needed to control life’s different activities and events. Nursing professionals that perceive themselves as self-efficient have empowered and resilient leadership; additionally, they keep a balance between their thoughts and emotions to overcome ad- versities, negative reactions, and exhaustion, which increments re- silient leadership and work satisfaction. A resilient leader is always considered to be efficient (8). Education level is another relevant aspect associated with empow- erment and resilience. Nursing professionals with doctorates and master’s degrees are more empowered and resilient. A higher pro- fessional level is associated with more autonomy and being more competent and resilient even if there are difficulties at work or per- sonal environment (10). Before the evidence that empowered and resilient leadership of health professionals contributes to the transformation of organizations into strong and committed institutions and inspires accomplishing inno- vative goals that leave uncertainty and instability behind to develop competent, stable, positive, and improved work environments, there is a requirement to develop actions that, from early training stages, promote effective leadership to guarantee, in the future—short, me- dium, and long term—health systems with empowered and resilient nursing leaders that face adversities and strengthen the population’s health attention quality (4). Conclusion Health systems’ transformation requires guaranteeing that nursing professionals have effective, empowered, and resilient leadership. This process has already started, we are on our way towards the 4 A Q U IC H A N | eI SS N 2 02 7- 53 74 | A Ñ O 22 - V O L. 2 2 N º 4 - CH ÍA , C O LO M BI A - O CT U BR E- D IC IE M BR E 20 22 | e 22 41 transition, and there is evidence of the successful positioning of nursing in the different fields of action; however, more effort and investment are required. Empowered leadership is necessary for sanitary systems. Even though the emphasis must be on impulsing empowered sanitary systems, not resilient, it is a fact that health in- stitutions face multiple demands and requirements that force them to face obstacles, which is why the need nursing professionals able to face challenges and make the best decisions that contribute to the population’s health. It is essential that educational institutions training nursing human resources include in their academic programs and continuing ed- ucation, content, and learning strategies in real and simulated sce- narios that contribute to the develop of resilience, self-efficacy, and self-leadership because of their association with empowerment. Moreover, it is advisable to motivate clinical professionals to have master’s and doctorate training that expands their disciplinary knowledge and advanced practice to favor the transition toward the consolidation of nursing leadership. Referencias 1. Organización Mundial de la Salud. Situación de la enfermería en el mundo: resumen de orientación [Internet]. [Lugar de publicación desconocido]: 2020 [citado el 2 de septiembre de 2022]. Disponible en: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/hand le/10665/331675/9789240003392-spa.pdf 2. Comisión Internacional de Enfermería. El papel de las enfermeras en el logro de los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible [Internet]. [Lugar de publicación desconocido]: 2017 [citado el 2 de septiembre de 2022]. Disponible en: https://www. icnvoicetolead.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ICN_ Guidance_pages_ SP_lowres.pdf 3. Ortega K. Liderazgo y desempeño laboral de los profesionales de enfermería del servicio de emergencia del Hospital II ESSALUD Huánuco-2016 [Internet]. [Lugar de publicación desconocido]: 2016 [citado el 2 de septiembre de 2022]. Disponible en: http://repositorio.udh.edu.pe/123456789/260 4. Ramírez R, Lay N, Villa I, Herrera B. Liderazgo resiliente como competencia potenciadora del talento humano. Rev Cienc Hum Soc [Internet]. 2018 [citado el 5 de septiembre de 2022]; 34(86):826-854. Disponible en: http://hdl.handle.net/11323/5266 5. Riaño CAL, Rodríguez PME, Gaytán HD. Autoevaluación y evaluación en los estilos de liderazgo de dirigentes de Enfermería. Rev Latino-am Enfermagem. [Internet]. 2021 [citado el 5 de septiembre de 2022]; 29:e3393. DOI: https://doi. org /10.1590/1518-8345.3435.3393 6. Tau B, Du Plessis E, Koen D, Ellis S. The relationship between resilience and empowering leader behaviour of nurse managers in the mining healthcare sector. Curationis [Internet]. 2018 [citado el 6 de septiembre de 2022]; 41(1):1-10. DOI: https://doi. org /10.4102/curationis.v41i1.1775 7. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The Voice Academic Nursing. Lo esencial: competencias básicas para educación profesional en enfermería [Internet]. [Lugar de publicación desconocido]: 2021 [citado el 5 de septiembre de 2022]. Disponible en: https://www.aacnnursing.org / 8. de la Garza M, Guzmán E, Aguilar M. El autoliderazgo y la inteligencia emocional: un estudio de la generación de los millenials. Ciencia y Sociedad [Internet]. 2018 [citado el 6 de septiembre de 2022]; 43(2):51-65. DOI: https://doi.org /10.22206/ cys.2018.v43i2.pp51-65 9. 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