Capturing Change: Creating a Template to Examine the Educational Experiences and Outcomes of the AONE Foundation Nurse Manager Fellowship.

Objective: The aim of the study is to create a mixed-methods evaluation template to examine the educational experiences and outcomes of participants in the Nurse Manager Fellowship (NMF) sponsored by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) Foundation. The focus was to capture change as reported by the nurse manager (NM) fellows and the senior leaders who sponsored them and to gain access to the participants' lived experiences as leadership learners.

Background: The AONE Foundation's NMF conducts a yearlong professional development program with a cohort of 30 fellows who meet 4 times a year in face-to-face sessions and complete a capstone project.

Developing a leadership laboratory for nurse managers based on lived experiences: a participatory action research model for leadership development.

Objective: The aim of the pilot study was to design an innovative model of leadership development, Leadership Laboratory (LL), grounded in the lived experiences and peer best practices of 43 cross-disciplinary nurse managers.

Background: The Institute of Medicine/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study, The Future of Nursing, reinforces the need to prepare nurses for leadership positions.

Methods: A 1-year participatory action research study was designed to develop 3 LLs involving nurse managers as participants, co-creators, and evaluators of the unique learning format.

Why do nurse managers stay? Building a model of engagement: part 2, cultures of engagement.

The short tenure of nurse managers is an urgent aspect of the leadership vacuum within the nursing shortage. The authors, who sought to build a model of nurse manager engagement in contrast to a retention model, continue to report data from a national qualitative study funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of 30 outstanding and longtime nurse managers in 6 settings. Part 1 (March 2008) described the dimensions and applications of individual engagement.

Why do nurse managers stay? Building a model of engagement: part 1, dimensions of engagement.

The short tenure of nurse managers suggests the urgent need for a new model to understand and build engagement that translates into longevity and excellence in nurse managers. The authors report data from a national qualitative study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, of 30 outstanding long-time nurse managers in 6 settings and offer patterns of individual and cultural elements linked to engagement. Part 1 describes the dimensions of individual engagement along with the implications for developing and sustaining nurse managers.