Exploration of System Chief Nurse Executive's Leadership Practices to Support, Mentor, Develop, and Retain Nurse Leaders.

In 2019, the National Academy of Science identified clinician burnout as a growing public health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded this crisis and transformed it into an escalating fracture within the US health care system. Concurrently evolving with this emergency is a rise in the number of nurses who intend to leave the profession. Frontline nurse leaders are the lynchpin in ensuring health care systems function. These leaders have accountability over patient care and clinician well-being. Focused efforts must address clinician burnout. However, without addressing the well-being of frontline nurse leaders, the fault line in our health care system becomes a vast chasm. Recently, published literature began to emerge describing and addressing frontline clinician burnout. Unfortunately, only a few, if any, address issues related to leaders. The aim of this qualitative case study research was to explore and discover general themes in system chief nurse executive leadership practices that support, mentor, develop, and retain nurse leaders as a basis for future research. Three major themes were identified for future study and exploration: enhancing leadership development programs; improving leader work environments; and focusing on leader well-being and support. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of these themes.

Leadership Science in Nursing: Creating New Solutions for New Challenges.

The Association for Leadership Science in Nursing (ALSN) November 2022 International Conference was held at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western University. ALSN is dedicated to uniting academic and practice leaders to shape leadership science, education in nursing, and the practice of nursing leadership. One hundred fifty-one nurse leaders from the United States, Canada, and Oman gathered to discuss leadership as highlighted in this column.

The Healthy Disruption of Anger.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, information related to the virus changed so rapidly, and anxiety among healthcare workforce mounted exponentially. The reality of the situation was fluid; leadership had a challenging time communicating even short-term strategies. What evolved was a scared, tired, angry healthcare workforce. Association for Leadership Science in Nursing authors explore leaderships' opportunity to acknowledge, harness, and transform this anger into healthy disruption.

ALSN 2021 Conference: Nursing Science for Leadership in the New Decade.

The Association for Leadership Science in Nursing's 2021 conference provided an opportunity to further enhance professional understanding of the difficulties facing nurse leaders as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create unimaginable challenges. Presentations provided evidence in support of courageous caring leadership interventions.

Nurses Taking the Lead: A Look Back to Move Forward.

In recognition of the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, the 2020 annual conference of the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing (ALSN) celebrated A Look Back to Move Forward in recognition of the 50th anniversary of ALSN. The ALSN began as the Council of Graduate Education for Administrative Nursing (CGEAN) in 1970. Today, ALSN maintains the goals of shaping graduate education and research to inform nursing leadership practice.

Leading Through Chaos: Perspectives From Nurse Executives.

The COVID-19 crisis created unique and interesting challenges for health care systems and changed how health care professionals delivered care. Evidence suggests that leadership skills remain of utmost importance during crises as it is the leader who often determines the response of the follower. A descriptive qualitative approach was used to ascertain the essence of nurse executive leadership and innovation during the COVID-19 crisis. Nurse executives were recruited via personal invitations to participate in the study. Participants were asked about their current challenges of COVID-19 on health care delivery, their leadership style, and what innovative processes their teams deployed. Using a thematic analysis approach, 3 themes emerged and resonated from the interviews: the importance of communication; the need for leadership presence; and mental toughness. With any health care crisis, leadership is essential to guide followers. As demonstrated by these findings, communication, leadership presence, and mental toughness are 3 key components to promoting and providing quality care in an austere, complex, and changing health care environment. Further understanding of the roles of these key concepts may add insight into nurse leaders and leadership development.

Disruptive Innovation: Impact for Practice, Policy, and Academia.

The 2019 Association for Leadership Science in Nursing International Conference, Disruptive Innovation, was held in Los Angeles, California, with attendees from 30 US states, Canada, Brazil, and China. Presenters discussed the need for nurse leaders to advocate for health equity, lead evidence-based innovation, how robots and other technology are generating disruptive innovations in healthcare, and building strong academic-practice partnerships to address nursing workforce challenges. This article will report on these important insights.

Engagement in Nursing: One Organization's Success.

Engagement in health care has gained in importance over time. It has become increasingly important in the work that nurses do to optimize patient involvement in the management of their health care activities. Nurse leaders are being called upon to build and sustain cultures of engagement for their employees and ultimately for patients. The purpose of this article is to share an engagement process that has proven successful at a community-based academic medical center that has received Magnet designation. While engagement remains a multifaceted process for all parties involved and requires a constant focus, the authors have focused on 3 key areas to increase registered nurse engagement. These areas include professional development, autonomy, and leadership access. Each area is addressed with specific strategies that were utilized to achieve success.