Transforming nursing through knowledge

Professional Development All Resources

  • Leadership for Health System Transformation: What's Needed in Canada? - 2012
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    Brief for the Canadian Nurses Association's National Expert Commission on The Health of Our Nation – The Future of Our Health System.
     
    The purpose of this brief is to recommend what is needed for health executives and senior leaders to effectively lead health system transformation in Canada. To develop a truly integrated patient-centred healthcare system, health leaders are called upon to work across boundaries related to organizations, professions, sectors, geography and jurisdictions.
    We offer the following recommendations to strengthen the role of executive leadership in transforming the Canadian healthcare system:
    1. Balance national vision and strategy with local flexibility
    2. Develop avant-garde executive leadership competencies
    3. Tap into expertise to develop executive leadership capacity and accelerate change
    4. Foster executive leadership continuity and succession planning
  • CNE/CNO Governance and Leadership Toolkit Self-Assessment - 2011
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    The RNAO Governance and Leadership Self-Assessment is presented as a tool for Chief Nursing Executives (CNEs) and Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) to use in identifying personal areas of strength and potential areas for growth. It is intended for personal use.
  • Model of Public Health Nurse Executive Leadership
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    In February 2011, the Ontario Public Health Organizational Standards were released requiring each board of health to “designate a Chief Nursing Officer to be responsible for nursing quality assurance and nursing practice leadership” and to "support a culture of excellent in professional practice for all regulated and unregulated health professions that ensures inter-professional collaboration and learning, and that staff are able to comply with professional regulatory body requirements where applicable. A range of models could be used, including the designation of professional practice leads.”
     
    In October, 2011, the Public Health Branch of the MOHLTC released the Public health Chief Nursing Officer Working Group Report, thereby clarifying the role and responsibility of the public health Chief Nursing Officer. This working group was co-sponsored by the MOHLTC, the Association of Nursing Directors and Supervisory of Official Health Agencies and RNAO.
     
    In order for public health Chief Nursing Officers to fully enact their newly mandated role and responsibility as well as implement this “culture of excellence” and authentic interprofessional collaboration, it is essential that public health program and staffing decisions be based on best practices. As such, RNAO proposes the following evidenced based Model of Public Health Nurse Executive Leadership as an initial point of dialogue to clarify the potential impact public health nurse executives can have on nurse / client, organizational and societal outcomes. 
  • Chief Nursing Executive Role in Hospitals - 2011
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    Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre Slide Deck Presentation, February 2, 2011
     
    Outline
     
    • What is the CNE Role? 
    • Overview of the Role 
    • What are the key roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of the CNE? 
    • Organizational Structure 
    • Recent Legislative Changes 
     
  • Nursing Leadership From Bedside to Boardroom. A Gallup National Survey of Opinion Leaders -
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    Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how nursing is viewed by the nation’s decision makers and opinion leaders.

    Background: Nurses comprise the largest subgroup of the health and healthcareworkforce. The public recognizes nurses’ contributions, consistently ranking them highest in honesty and ethics. Yet, significant barriers remain in nurses achieving substantial leadership positions in health and healthcare delivery and policy.

    Methods: The study sampled a broad cross section of American opinion leaders in the public and private sector, academia, and trade organizations.More than 1,500 opinion leaders were interviewed by telephone interviewers.

    Results: The opinion leaders viewed government (75%) and health insurance executives (56%) as the groups most likely to exert a great deal of influence on health reform, compared with 14% for nurses. Government respondents were significantly different than all other respondents; 23%of these respondents said nurses have a great deal of influence in healthcare reform, compared with 14% of other individuals.

     

     

  • Chief Nursing Officer Executive Development. A Crisis or a Challenge? - 2011
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    The roles and responsibilities of nurses are expanding, as they become more involved in administration and leadership within their field. Nurses are taking on executive positions, which have become a crucial part of hospital organizations. With this expansion, an executive development program is necessary to provide nurses with the knowledge and competencies that these executive positions require. Their focus must evolve from singular bedside practice to the greater scope of health care administration. Leadership skills are extremely important, in addition to interpersonal, management, mentoring, and interprofessional skills. A number of nursing associations have worked to develop a set of curricula for nurse executive education, but a consistent and specific set of academic requirements has yet to be agreed upon.
     
    With the importance of the chief nursing officer’s (CNO) role in the function of a hospital and the requirement of the knowledge of the changing health care system in the United States, it is essential that nurses are provided with proper education and training that will help them become successful nurse executives. Some
    suggestions include a dual MSN/MBA degree, a PhD in nursing, continuing education institutes, and mentoring programs. However, research must be done to clarify the best way to prepare CNOs for their roles.
  • American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE): Nurse Executive Competencies - 2011
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    The competencies listed describe skills common to nurses in executive practice regardless of their educational level or titles in different organizations. They are presented as information for both nurse leaders and those who employ or work with them. Executives can use these competencies as a self-assessment tool, useful in the identification of possible areas for growth. 
     
    Aspiring nurse leaders can use them in planning personal preparation for their careers. Health care organizations may see them as a guideline for job descriptions, expectations and evaluations of nurse leaders. Nurse educators can utilize them as a curriculum guideline for the educational preparation of nurses seeking expertise and knowledge in executive practice.
  • Making the Case for Succession Planning. Who’s on Deck in Your Organization? - 2011
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    In Canada, the nursing shortage is all encompassing, and nurse leaders are needed from the bedside to the boardroom. Healthcare organizations and the nursing profession lag behind the corporate sector in development of strategic leadership succession planning. Contemporary nurse leaders will require all the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies their predecessors can provide.

    Effective leadership development and succession planning will provide a climate that is conducive to the transfer of that knowledge. Providing leadership development opportunities within the context of succession planning will assist nurses to develop and nurture the leader within. A definitive strategic succession plan may mean the difference between success and failure for nurses and their organizations.

  • On-boarding and Enculturation of New Chief Nursing Officers - 2011
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    Given that chief nursing officers (CNOs) play a critical role in hospital organizations and require a diverse set of executive leadership and professional competencies, what competencies are most critical? What kind of support is needed for a leader who is new to this executive role? What is needed to successfully on board an experienced leader who is new to the organization? How can a CNO demonstrate the unique value he/she brings to the executive BC[ suite? The author presents findings from on-boarding 6 new CNOs by using an in-depth 360-degree process to assess competency, an on-boarding development road map, and a CNO scorecard.

  • Back to the Future Learning From the Past to Prepare Competent Nurse Leaders for the Future -
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    If today’s need for highly competent nurse leaders is urgent, and there seems to be no controversy about this fact, what will be the need in the next few years? And what will ensure the availability of
    these highly competent persons? Between the opportunities offered by the Accountable Care Act, and the IOM Report on the Future of Nursing’s recommendations, the consensus is that the need
    will be great. This is not a new concern:
     
    During the 1960s, the pendulum in graduate education in nursing swung from functional preparation in teaching, supervision, and administration to clinical specialization. While the change was a logical one, inadequate consideration was given to the preparation of people who would fill these roles in the real world. Consequently, Boston University School of Nursing held an invitational conference in 1978 to respond to the call for preparation of competent nursing leaders.
     
    The author interviews some of the leaders who attended and/or presented at this conference to see just how much we could learn for the past to apply today.