Developing Nursing Leaders for the Future: Achieving Competency for Transformational Leadership

Are today's nurses ready for the challenge of leading healthcare reform based on best practices and current evidence, ensuring safety and quality in all aspects of care, integrating principles of patient-centered care, and leading interprofessional teams while being fiscally responsible, ethical, caring, and compassionate caregivers? Although the question is complicated and multifaceted, the importance of ongoing leadership development from professional entry education to professional practice and enhancing professional practice at the bedside or in the board room must not be overlooked. Initial leadership development and ongoing education about the many dimensions of healthcare innovations are critical to providing nurses with the tools essential to fully engage in an interprofessional approach to healthcare reform (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010).