The Clinical Nurse Leader: Addressing Health-Care Challenges Through Partnerships and Innovation

Evidence demonstrates that the American health-care system is failing to meet quality, safety, and efficiency mandates. In response to the need to raise core standards, education and practice leaders have come together to create a new master's-degree nursing role-the clinical nurse leader (CNL®). These CNL academic and clinical partnerships are producing measurable and sustainable practice outcomes that are positively affecting the quality, safety, and cost of care. The CNL initiative demonstrates the power of collaboration and the need to re-envision traditional nursing roles to meet the constantly emerging challenges of health care.