Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Anne Vitale

Abstract

Staff nurses are frequently placed in charge nurse positions without the necessary formal training. The long-term goal of this project was to develop a curriculum for a formal institutional leadership workshop for the charge nurses at the practicum site. The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice model and Lewin's change theory were used to guide the development and implementation of the workshop. Data were collected using a focus group approach with 4 novice and 5 expert medical-surgical charge nurses. The short-term goal of the project was to understand the charge nurses' perceptions of leadership and the challenges as a front-line leader. Participating nurses were recruited from staff meetings and from a hospital flyer. Each participant answered the 3 leadership questions. The charge nurses' statements were categorized and color-coded to identify emerging themes from repetitions of words and patterns; themes were subsequently prioritized from the most to the least occurring. Member checking with participants as well as preceptor verification and validation of 10 themes that were utilized to develop the curriculum: communication, patient safety, roles, teamwork, conflict management, generational diversity, mentoring, cheerleader, prioritization, and delegation. Implementing the workshop 4 hours per month over a 3-month period and formal mentoring was recommended for optimal sustainability based on the proposed theoretical framework. Implications for positive social change include the potential for enhancing the quality of patient care delivered and improving patient safety as a result of charge nurse leadership being modeled.

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