Teaching nursing students the art of leadership is a daunting task.
What is the task exactly? To answer that question, here are a couple of sentences from the syllabus description: “This synthesis course develops leadership, management, and professionalism expected of a nurse with a bachelor’s level education. Professional role development, interprofessional collaboration, delegation, resource management, ethical, legal, and workplace issues are considered.”
This means there are no straightforward facts to teach and have students memorize or an easy formula to accomplish the goal.
This is important because baccalaureate-trained nursing students will be expected to lead very soon after they have arrived at their first position.
Of course, life lessons can help students become a leader, but the goal at UNMC College of Nursing is to give the graduating nurse a jump start in respect to leadership positions from day one. The future employers of these graduates expect nursing students to be able to be contributing members of the team they join, which requires appreciation of leadership roles.
One of the ways students receive leadership mentoring is through a partnership established by the UNMC College of Nursing with local hospitals’ leadership teams. Collaboration between Nebraska Medicine and UNMC is one example of this. During spring 2023 and summer 2023, when traditional and accelerated nursing students took Nursing 424, unit leaders and team managers readily agreed to have the students shadow them for a block of time. Students received the opportunity to follow two or three leaders during the semesters.
The leadership experience did not stop there. UNMC BSN students were divided into teams that joined with hospital units to create Quality Improvement (QI) proposals. The QI proposals included an oral PowerPoint presentation with a research poster. The proposals were left for units to implement at their leisure. Important aspects that students had to address included the individual unit’s needs and the IHI Quintuple Aimes.
Although leadership is a daunting lesson to learn, the UNMC College of Nursing is committed to it, and the college values each community partnership that enhances the learning experience and leadership qualities of all future nurses.