Exploring the understanding of followership amongst nursing staff in the emergency department of a private hospital in Gauteng : an appreciative inquiry

Abstract

Introduction: Followership can be defined as the moment when followers regard themselves as followers and allow for the influence of leaders. With each passing decade, followers are becoming increasingly influential and powerful – hence the gravity of a thorough understanding of their role. Aim: This study aimed to understand followership amongst emergency department nursing staff in a private hospital in Gauteng. Methodology: An appreciative inquiry model with five cycles was utilised. The five appreciative inquiry model cycles were launched by crafting defining, discovery, dream, design and destiny-oriented questions for the interview guide. Ethics approval was obtained from the university’s research ethics committee (No:168/2023). All the nursing staff in a level two trauma-accredited emergency department in a designated private hospital were invited to participate in this study. Purposive sampling was used, and nine semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic method was used to analyse the data. Trustworthiness was ensured by utilising the criteria of credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability. Findings: The study's findings revealed a limited understanding of followership among the participants, the commendatory attributes needed for proactive followership within the emergency department, and implementation actions expressed by participants that they believe are necessary to create proactive followership in the emergency department. Lastly, the participants communicated what they believed would be essential to nurture followership within the emergency department. Recommendations were formulated based on the findings. Recommendations were made for nursing education institutions, hospital management, nursing staff and further research. Conclusion: The study aimed to explore the understanding of followership amongst emergency department nurses in a private hospital in Gauteng. Based on the findings, a definitive conclusion was reached. Participants revealed that they had a limited understanding of followership and that their limited understanding did not encompass the true definition of followership as guided by the literature. There is a need to deepen the understanding of followership amongst emergency department nurses, which could improve organisational- and patient outcomes and patient experiences.