RESUMO
Nurse leadership was identified as essential to the advancement of health care in the State of Maryland. The State's Health Services Cost Review Commission's (HSCRC) committed to building the next generation of nurse leaders as part of its vision for advancing healthcare in Maryland. In 2015, HSCRC approved a $2.5 million, multiyear grant that supported development of the Nurse Leadership Institute (NLI) at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The NLI designed a leadership development program that prepared nurse faculty and clinicians with critical competencies needed for assuming leadership positions unique to complex adaptive systems, facilitating collaborative partnerships between academia and practice, and ultimately improving health outcomes for Maryland's residents. This article is the first in a series reporting on outcomes of this initiative, which describes the design and implementation of the Nurse Leadership Institute, its Leadership Development Program, and preliminary findings for the first 4 years.