Abstract:
The purposes of this descriptive research were: 1) to explore perceived the development into head nurse position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers, 2) to explore perceived the development into head nurse position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers, by age, educational level, experience in nursing, and experience as head nurse, and 3) to explore opinion on needs development into head nurse position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers. The population consisted of 264 head nurses. Research instruments was the development into head nurse position questionnaire which was tested for content validity and Cronbachs alpha coefficients was .96. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation and content analysis. The findings were summarized as follow: 1. The perceived the development into head nurse position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers was at the high levels (X = 3.54, SD = .81). 2. The perceived the development into head nurses position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers by age, educational level, experience in nursing and experience as head nurse, the study findings indicated that: 2.1 For age groups, the 31-40 years old, and 41-50 years old of head nurses perceived the development into head nurse position were at the high levels, and 51-60 years old of head nurses perceived the development into head nurse position was at the moderate levels. 2.2 For educational level, both master degree and bachelor degree of head nurses perceived the development into head nurse position were at the high levels. 2.3 For experience in nursing, more than 20 years, 11 20 years and 1 10 years of head nurses perceived the development into head nurse position were at the high levels. 2.4 For experience as head nurse, 1 10 years and 11 - 20 years were at the high levels, and more than 20 years of head nurses perceived the development into head nurse position was at the moderate levels. 3. The opinion on needs development into head nurse position of head nurses, regional hospital and medical centers were developing leadership, nursing administration, and improving the quality of nursing services.