Från personalbrist till kompetensbrist : Vårdenhetschefers förutsättningar och verktyg för att möta kompetensförsörjningsbehovet

For several years now, the healthcare service has been facing major recruitment challenges where the shortage of nurses is a reality. As time goes by and experienced employees leave the profession, managers are facing a transition to not only having a lack of resources but also a lack of competence. Insufficient staffing or competence can create negative consequences and further aggravate the basic problem of competence management. The overall purpose of this study is to create knowledge about the situation of unit managers regarding the competence management of nurses, by examining what conditions and tools unit managers have in their leadership to handle this. The study examines the conditions and tools that unit managers describe that they have for managing competence and need thereof in the department. What tools regarding competence management / needs, how the tools look like and how they are used in relation to competence management, and whether the unit manager lacks any tools. Finally, the study describes how the unit manager handles the unit’s competence needs and competence management, through leadership. The study is based on theories in competence management, learning organizations, learning in the workplace and leadership. Specifically, four different departments are examined at an emergency hospital in central Sweden using a qualitative method. The empirical material comes from completed semi-structured interviews with a total of eight unit managers, which were analyzed based on a qualitative content analysis approach. The results of the study show how the unit managers have adopted different strategies for working with the prevailing competence management situation. Competence management is mostly described in terms of competence development. The unit managers describe limitations regarding the shortage of nurses and there are major challenges regarding the competence level of the department. The unit managers describe a need for a larger proportion