Context of Leadership: Nursing and Midwifery in the Western Australian Public Health System

The paper reports on Stage One of a three stage research project undertaken for the Nursing and Midwifery Office, Western Australian Department of Health. It was designed to contribute an understanding of perceptions of the practice of leadership in nursing and midwifery through interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders we found that nurses recognised that in their changing environment there was a need for adaptive leadership supported by leadership which was open, encouraged and nurtured nurses. The importance of administrative leadership to manage the ongoing operation of the system was also remarked on. We found that organisational context and the values framework of a professional workforce can have a significant impact, in practice, on the influencing capacities of leaders.