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Learning Objective 1: 1.The learner will be able to identify and discuss the need for a framework for leadership development and education across the nursing career span.
Learning Objective 2: 2.The learner will be able to identify essential dimensions for nursing leadership development
Significance: Few nurses would argue that practice innovation, quality improvement, effective care delivery, and positive patient outcomes require leadership. Recent nursing education literature suggests a heightened awareness of the need for leadership, as well as a variety of pedagogical approaches for developing leadership skills in nurses. Despite this growing awareness, little evidence or strong scholarship exist about what components of leadership are essential for all nurses, or about how leadership development can be encouraged across the career span of nurses. Using current knowledge to build a framework for nursing leadership development will inform education and practice and will allow partnership in the creation of a nursing workforce prepared to meet the complexity and challenges of contemporary healthcare delivery.
Methodology: Eight best-selling textbooks in nursing leadership were identified for consideration of leadership theories relevant to nursing. The publisher summaries of the texts were used to screen for books that considered leadership to be a process rather than just an administrative role. Based on this screening, five of eight texts were selected for directed content analysis. Gardner’s Nine Tasks of Leadership were used as the organizing framework for coding of the content. Using the table of contents, chapter summaries, chapter objectives and chapter sub-headings, each leadership text was reviewed for content related to each code.
Discussion: Common components relevant to leadership development were identified. Gardner’s nine leadership tasks supported categorization of the components and will be instrumental in the future design of a comprehensive conceptual framework for nursing leadership development.