Support for Clinical Nurse Educators: Imparting Key Leadership Skills.

Clinical nurse educators (CNEs) are expert clinical nurses tasked with supporting the orientation and professional development of nurses on clinical units, yet CNEs themselves often do not receive a formal orientation to support their role transition. CNEs at a large academic medical center participate in a quality improvement program aimed at developing communication skills for difficult conversations, feedback, and debriefing. Findings highlight some of the interpersonal communication challenges CNEs encounter, which endorse the need for a formal CNE orientation and mentoring program.