Background This study across two leading hospitals of the City will help in understanding the functioning of nursing care and its importance during crisis like Covid-19 pandemic. It will help us to ascertain the level of preparedness of the healthcare facilities to tackle any future emergencies as well. As Gulbarga was one of the first few cities in the Karnataka state of India during the second wave of Covid-19 to cope sooner and better in comparison to others, a post Covid assessment of the hospitals involving the nursing department can be very useful.

Aims To study the nurse leadership role during pandemic.

Methods Sample Size included 100 staff nurses ,matrons & in-charge nurses who took part between August to September 2021. A 20 item structured Questionnaire on role of nurse leadership is used. Participants are asked a mix of open-ended and closed questions about the important attributes to effectively lead during a crisis.

Results The study is still ongoing and will be done by the end of September-2021. Initial data shows good interventions and useful strategies were used. Key changes that were made during the second wave were a new staffing level, redeploying nurses, increasing the visibility of nursing leadership, new staff wellbeing initiatives, new roles created for various training initiatives. The impact of good leadership had a better effect on the delivery of nursing care.

Conclusions The role of the nursing department must be taken more seriously especially in developing countries like India with larger population and less number of healthcare providers which include doctors and nurses. The healthcare management must continue to develop plans that can strengthen the nurses by giving them good compensation, adequate training, protection and good work environment.

Dr.Nilofer Naaz*