Feedforward: Nurturing the Next Generation of Clinical Leaders

The Institute of Medicine's report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,1 identified the importance of nursing leadership in the redesign and delivery of health care. The committee members advocated for health care organizations to create opportunities for nurses to take the lead in designing and implementing novel and effective person-centered models of care delivery. Buoyed by these recommendations, the authors, an executive chief nursing officer (ECNO), a professor of nursing, and a clinical nurse specialist, embarked on a journey to design a course for clinical nurses that was provocative and persuasive, controversial and compelling, inspiring and illuminating. The premise upon which the course was designed was that clinical nurses who have the opportunity to explore leadership practices, discuss leadership aspirations, and foster relationships with other nurses across a health care system will feel valued, validated, and invigorated to continue to investigate opportunities to develop their best professional selves.