Academic polices can be a significant factor in the success of nursing education programs. These policies arise from, and are governed by, a variety of bodies, both external or internal to nursing programs. In most universities, schools, and colleges, faculties and departments may have policies that are separate, but mirror policies of the institution or state. In that case, the school policies are often more stringent that those of the larger body. This chapter gives examples of policies and the dean’s role. There are many case examples of policies; however, two very broad categories are problem-solving and new programs. Program innovation and quality are critical to the success of an academic nursing enterprise. Program innovations such as online learning, competency-based programs, and stackable certificates are attractive to today’s learners, and nursing students are no exception.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a seven-step problem-solving approach to the delivery of healthcare that integrates the best evidence from well-designed studies with a clinician’s expertise and the values/preferences of the patient/family. This chapter discusses the importance of EBP in achieving the quadruple aim in healthcare, describes the current state of EBP in healthcare, including EBP competencies, identifies the barriers and facilitators of EBP, and discusses the key leadership strategies to ignite and sustain EBP in healthcare. It briefly describes EBP competencies for practicing registered nurses and advanced practice nurses in real-world clinical settings. Leaders must first understand that EBP is the direct pathway to achieve the quadruple aim in healthcare and be willing to invest in it knowing that healthcare quality and safety will be enhanced, population health outcomes will improve, healthcare costs will diminish, and clinician job satisfaction will increase as EBP diffuses throughout the organization.

This chapter builds on the concept of adaptive leadership first developed by Heifetz in 1994 and subsequently refined by others. The concept is further developed using the authors’ own leadership experiences to propose seven guiding pillars that can help advance adaptive leadership in healthcare and public health settings. To illustrate these seven guiding pillars, the authors examined contributions from the world of academic public health about adaptive leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the institutions’ responses to other changes. The chapter discusses the importance of adaptive leadership and demonstrates the value of adaptive leadership as an approach to lead in public health and healthcare settings. It analyzes the seven foundational pillars of adaptive leadership and examines illustrative leadership case studies from academic public health including examples from the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter applies adaptive leadership concepts in different scenarios.

This chapter focuses on a series of case studies and best practices for partnerships that discuss in detail the provision of back-office support for nonprofit partners. Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities using best practices to improve community health through direct service, partnership, innovation, policy, research, technical assistance, and a prepared work force. Traditional back-office services are usually designed to address many of the challenges of today’s changing nonprofit environment. Services depend on the level of organizational need and affordability, but are usually identified through a comprehensive organizational assessment of the nonprofit client. The Urban Affairs Coalition (UAC) is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that was founded in 1969 following a historic meeting between the city’s business and community leaders. Most nonprofits never rise to the scale of having a full internal administrative staff and purchased equipment.

Aiming for impact means that one not only thinks that one can transform clinical service, but wants to develop and provide patients and their families with the kind of positive moments that are remembered 20 years later. Leadership presupposes aiming for impact; that is, a determination to address the challenges inherent in the current healthcare system. Impact means always giving some thought to how something good can be parlayed into something better. If one is aiming for impact, developmental learning will inevitably move from focusing on mastery of what today is considered to be best practice to imagining and developing a new and improved version of future practice. Nurses have historically been socialized in the direction of convergent thinking, but leadership requires divergent thinking, experiences that promote creativity and innovation.

Emotional skills are the heart of professional nursing. They are vital for patient assessment and effective nursing intervention. They are also indispensable for professional growth, leadership, team building and self-care. This chapter seeks a deeper understanding of emotions themselves, to both their anatomy (the structure and function of emotions) and their physiology (the way emotions relate to human physiology). The chapter begins with a description of the nature of emotions and their physiological mechanisms. It explores the emotional phenomena such as fight/flight, amygdalar hijacking, the relaxation response, and mind-body wellness. The chapter concludes with an introduction to the physiology of emotions as they relate to emotional intelligence ability. It challenges nurses to think about the emotions that are of particular interest in the specialty area in which they work.

This chapter focuses on formal nursing leadership roles such as the nurse executive, the clinical nurse leader (CNL), the academic nurse leader, and the public policy and advocacy nurse leader; and how the frameworks inform these roles. Each role is associated with a variety of career options and potential work settings. The chapter explores educational preparation for these leadership roles including certification, and identifies frameworks that support the nurse leader’s role performance. It examines how nurse leaders use knowledge and apply frameworks within diverse leadership roles. Nurses’ expertise and education constitute an influential and knowledgeable group to lead and influence the health care system. Regardless of the specific career track, the functions of the nurse leader are to empower, motivate, and communicate. The nurse leader demonstrates integrity and vision, acts as a role model for individuals, while maximizing the strengths of the interprofessional team for overall success.

This chapter describes the components of a professional practice model (PPM) implementation plan. Planning, selecting strategies, and ensuring accountability for PPM implementation requires a working group of diverse nursing professionals from multiple levels of a health system to fully capture their expertise and insights. The chapter reviews the steps of the implementation process and provides examples of a strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities/threats (SWOT) analysis, broad goal statements, and measurable objectives. It demonstrates the distinction between goals and objectives and suggests criteria for selecting among many implementation strategies. The chapter explores several implementation strategies: such as education, modification of work roles, workflow redesign, effective communication, and ongoing support and enrichment. It explains accountability for the plan’s implementation in terms of assigning responsibility, prioritizing goals, and setting realistic time frames for completion. Finally, the chapter presents the key success factors, including an optimistic leadership tone.

Today’s healthcare environment requires collaboration from an interprofessional team. Nurses are important members of the team. As a member of the interprofessional team, the nurse uses clinical expertise to promote positive healthcare outcomes. This chapter helps the reader to define clinical expertise, preceptorship, and mentorship, differentiate clinical expertise and clinical competence and describe two strategic models to assess clinical reasoning skills. It also helps the reader to implement practices that organize the clinical day to optimize safe patient care and student learning needs, identify strategies to link theory to practice and discuss a variety of ways to improve patient safety. Clinical nurse educators use their expertise to assist nursing students to gain clinical competencies. Besides procedural skills, clinical nurse educators promote student competencies in theory application, evidence-based practice, technology proficiency, leadership skills, and safe clinical reasoning.

This chapter helps the readers to learn more about seeking a position in academe. Although most schools of nursing are anxious to hire faculty, public university systems invariably suffer from reduced funding. The chapter presents a list of topics such as shared governance, promotion and tenure, and reappointment with which the prospective faculty candidate should acquaint him- or herself. Nursing programs tend to be more rigorous and have narrower, stricter policies for admission and progression. It is a good idea to discern where the commonalities and variances lie and the extent to which those differences are valued and adhered to. The chapter provides some distinct differences between applying for a faculty position and applying for a leadership position. Starting a position in academe is very exciting. It is very rewarding to educate and mold the next generation of nurses, and it is a job that must be taken very seriously.