Suggestions for Graduate Education in Nursing Service Administration

National Delphi study to determine competencies for nursing leadership in public health

PURPOSE

To identify competencies needed by nurse leaders in public health programs.

DESIGN

Five-round national Delphi.

SAMPLE

Convenience sample of members of major public health nursing associations and nurse and non-nurse public health leaders in the USA.

METHODS

Mailed survey in 1994-1995 using a modified snowball technique based on a modification of the Pew Foundation health professions' competencies for Round 1. Four additional rounds produced consensus.

FINDINGS

Initially, 62 competencies were identified. Factor analysis resulted in four factors: political competencies, business acumen, program leadership, and management capabilities; 57 competencies were clustered in the four groupings and accounted for 91.4% of the variance.

CONCLUSIONS

Graduate schools in nursing and public health must prepare students with broad-based competencies from a variety of disciplines. Findings of this national survey provide a database for curriculum development and evaluation of programs to prepare nurse leaders for roles in public health-based delivery systems.

Developing nurse leaders for today and tomorrow, Part 1, foundations of leadership in practice

Primary care, with a community-based orientation, is the driving force of healthcare reform. To prepare nurses to provide leadership in this changing healthcare environment, the Manager as Developer Model, useful in the acute care setting, is discussed as a useful model for primary care. Part 1 describes the Manager as Developer Model of Leadership Preparation with its seven major concepts as the basis for development of professionals. Its application to nurse managers in acute care settings is supported by research studies undertaken in those settings. Also discussed is how the model is used as a process framework in a nursing administration curriculum and the research to date, with its application. In part 2 (October 1996), the authors predict how the model's use can guide the development of leadership and education for the future of community-based practice.

Education for Executive Nurse Administrators: A Databased Curricular Model for Doctoral (PhD) Programs

This article reports a secondary analysis of qualitative data collected during an earlier study that investigated the educational preparation and role-related responsibilities of first-line nurse administrators employed in academe. Analysis of these original data raised several different and important research questions about role preparation for nurse administrators that had not been addressed in the earlier study, and that subsequently directed the secondary data analysis: (1) Are there knowledge domains specific to the executive nurse administrator role about which practicing administrators must have knowledge, and for which they are then accountable? And, if so, (2) What are the curricular implications for PhD programs in nursing that offer an executive nursing administration track? Secondary data analysis revealed that there are specific knowledge domains in executive nursing administration from which categories of courses can be identified. Implications are explored for role preparation in nursing administration at the PhD level based on the domains and categories of courses.