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Vincent Tremayne suggests that, to provide the best patient care, nurse leaders should adapt five principles contained in a 2,500-year-old guide to Chinese military strategy
AT SOMETIME between 750 and 200 BC, a Chinese general called Sun Tzu compiled a text that became generally known in the English speaking world as The Art of War (Trellis 2004).
This remains the oldest known military text in Chinese literature (Hou 1997) and, although it consists of only 13 chapters and 5,600 words, it is considered to be the foundation on which all modern military strategies are based (Ho and Choi 1997, Wee 2000).
Indeed, Rarick (1996) suggests that Napoleon Bonaparte had studied The Art of War before he embarked on many of his military campaigns in Europe.
Long regarded as a classic work of general strategy, tactics and logistics (McKay 1996), Tzu's work is arguably as appropriate today as it was more than 2,000 years ago.
But The Art of War can inspire people who work in non-military fields as well, even those providing modern healthcare services.
Of course, many readers will agree with Pediani and Walsh (2000) that enough models, formulas and frameworks have been devised in nursing already. Others may ask why they should seek advice from an ancient Chinese manual that is more commonly studied by politicians, business executives and military strategists.
But, if nurse leaders are willing to imagine that they are generals fighting for the best in nursing care (Mendell...