Clinical Leadership Skills Acquisition in Nurse Residents

Purpose:

Purpose and Rationale: The purpose of this non-equivalent comparison group post test research study was to measure clinical leadership skills acquisition in two groups of new nurse residents. The skills include the ability to effectively communicate with the health care team, organize data, resolve conflict, manage a patient assignment, and understand patient flow and throughput issues. Nurse residents represent a group that may be developed into future nurse leaders. Building clinical leadership skills in this population is thought to be important because planning for and developing new nurse leaders can help the nursing profession achieve leadership succession planning and their patient care goals. A residency program, the HealthSystem Consortium/American Association of Colleges of Nursing (UHC/AACN) program, was chosen to study for its ability to instill clinical leadership skills in new nurse residents. Although this program has been studied to measure workplace satisfaction and retention rates, its ability to impart clinical leadership skills has not been specifically studied.

Research Question: What is the effect of a nurse residency program on clinical leadership skills acquisition in the new nurse resident?

Synthesis of the Literature: The literature review revealed studies and publications involving current nurse leaders and their development. Gaps in the literature included programs to develop new nurses and their leadership skills. The UNC program has published many studies concerning their outcomes but has not studied clinical leadership skills acquisition.

Methods:

Methods and Procedures: Subjects were recruited from a convenience sample of nurse residents employed at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH). The sample studied was a convenience sample of nurse residents who completed their residency program at the York Street campus. This group was compared to the residents who have completed one year of employment at the Chapel Street Campus. This group had not undergone any formal residency program. Each group was given a Clinical Leadership Survey to complete after one year of employment at either campus.

Results:

Results: Clinical leadership skills were measured using the Clinical Leadership Survey. Clinical Leadership scores ranged from 3.765 to 5.000 with a mean of 4.311 at the York Street campus and 3.647 to 5.000 with a mean of 4.468 at the Chapel Street campus. A two-tailed t test showed no statistical significance between the means of the two groups (p =0.200). Pearson’s Chi-square test and ANCOVA also showed no relationship between certain demographic variables and the mean test scores at the two practice sites. (N=40)

Conclusion:

Discussion/Application to Practice: This study measured the clinical leadership skills in two groups of nurses and sought to measure whether an evidenced-based residency program instilled clinical leadership skills to nurse residents. Although the results did not have significant power to draw conclusions, it is clear that nurses benefit from nurse residency programs. Implications for nursing practice include further research to study which residency programs are successful in building  nurse leaders in the clinical arena so further recommendations can be made concerning which programs are successful and sustainable.

Global implications: Nurse Leaders should devise processes to ensure that nurse graduates are preparing to deliver care in a global environment. Clinical leadership skills acquisition can help nursing to communicate best practices worldwide.