The importance of increasing frontline nurses’ leadership skills engaging in professional development programs

Problem/Significance: Nurses may not be required to engage in professional development; however professional development has been identified as a factor to improve leadership competence, confidence, decision making, and clinical practice. Specifically, nurses who participate in professional development education improve their leadership characteristics. This study will evaluate the leadership behaviors of frontline nurses participating in professional development compared to those who were not.Methods: A convenience sample of 248 staff nurses employed in the North East region of the United States responded to the descriptive observational study design. The subjective responses to the Leadership Practice Inventory® (LPI) and demographic variables were analyzed.Results: Clinical ladder nurses scored higher on all subscales of the LPI than did nurses not on the clinical ladder. Unit-based clinical champions scored highest on the LPI regardless of the clinical ladder level or participation.Conclusions: Professional development in the form of education, certification, preceptor programs, leadership development clinical ladder programs, and unit-based champions should be considered in order to improve patient outcomes.

What to Expect

This chapter describes the process of orientation for the incoming clinical anesthesia year 1 (CA-1) resident. It highlights information to seek out during the orientation period and discusses the mentor or preceptor programs now integrated by multiple academic institutions. Furthermore, it suggests how to obtain and organize a patient’s preoperative information to present it to the attending anesthesiologist. This chapter also touches on the basics of the Anesthesia Knowledge Test and In-Training Examination administered to anesthesia residents nationwide. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of a team-based approach to perioperative patient care and the consultant role of the anesthesiologist.

Orientation Program for Hospital-Based Nurse Practitioners

The transition from student to practicing clinician is often a challenging and difficult period for many nurse practitioners. Newly graduated nurse practitioners commonly describe feelings of inadequacy in assuming clinical responsibilities, lack of support by team members, unclear expectations for the orientation period, and role isolation. This article describes the formal nurse practitioner orientation program implemented at the University of Maryland Medical Center, a large urban academic medical center, to facilitate the transition of new nurse practitioners into the workforce. This comprehensive program incorporates streamlined administrative activities, baseline didactic and simulation-based critical care education, ongoing and focused peer support, access to formalized resources, and individualized clinical preceptor programs. This formalized orientation program has proven to be one of the key variables to successful integration of nurse practitioners into our acute care clinical teams.