Nursing practice leaders' perspectives on continuing challenges related to the Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree.

In 2020, deans from top-ranked nursing schools authored a Nursing Outlook article titled, "Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree in the United States: Reflecting, Readjusting, and Getting Back on Track." In 2022, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing published the report, "State of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Education."- Both have been critical to advancing national discussions on the implementation of a universal DNP practiceentry standard in nursing.

Moving nursing innovation to prime time through the use of creative partnerships.

Nurses are well-positioned to solve many problems in healthcare through engagement in innovation. Support from healthcare organizations to facilitate creative partnerships may accelerate nurses' ability to innovate and improve job satisfaction. The value of creative partnerships is rooted in the diversity of experiences and skillsets of each project team member.

Health System Redesign of Cardiac Monitoring Oversight to Optimize Alarm Management, Safety, and Staff Engagement.

Objective: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve health system patient safety by creating a cardiac monitoring structure aligned with national standards.

Background: Excessive alarms pose patient safety threats and are often false or clinically insignificant. The Joint Commission identified reduction of nonactionable alarms as a National Patient Safety Goal.

A Qualitative Descriptive Study of Nurse Manager Decision-Making Associated With RN Hiring.

Objective: To explore the practices and self-confidence of nurse manager (NM) decision-making related to evaluating RN hiring needs.

Background: Evidence-based hiring strategies to sustain workforce stability were identified as a gap in the literature. Locally, inconsistencies in the method that NMs use to determine how many RNs to hire and at what frequency to hire them were observed, posing a threat to strategic workforce planning.

Evaluation of a proactive hiring model to achieve workforce stability in the intensive care unit.

Aim: The purpose was to evaluate an innovative Prospective Hiring Equation to determine registered nurse hiring needs.

Background: The American Organization for Nursing Leadership identifies human resource management as a competency for nurse managers, yet calculations to determine when and how many registered nurses to hire are not readily available.

Methods: We implemented an educational intervention to teach nurse mangers the Prospective Hiring Equation.

An innovative DNP post-doctorate program to improve quality improvement and implementation science skills.

Background: Doctor of Nursing Practice programs prepare nurse leaders for unique roles to address healthcare needs across the quality spectrum. However, additional mentoring and training in implementation science and analytical skills is needed to effectively lead system-wide quality initiatives.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative post-doctoral DNP Quality Implementation Scholars Program developed through an academic-practice partnership to address this need.

The Power of Two:: One Academic-Practice Partnership's Response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Academic-practice partnerships are necessary for strengthening nursing practice, robust and relevant academic programs, and advancing health care. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a strong academic-practice partnership shaped our response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. During this unprecedented time, existing relationships between the health system and school of nursing were quickly leveraged to provide mutually beneficial relief, opportunities, and support.

The Implementation of a Structured Nursing Leadership Development Program for Succession Planning in a Health System.

Preparing future nursing leaders to be successful is important because many current leaders will retire in large numbers in the future. A structured nursing leadership development program utilizing the Essentials of Nurse Manager Orientation online program provided future nursing leaders with content aligned with nursing leadership competencies. Paired with assigned mentors and monthly leadership sessions, the participants increased their perception of leadership competence.

Policy to practice: increased family presence and the impact on patient- and family-centered care adoption.

Objective: This quality improvement study introduced 24/7 family presence and measured its impact in 3 categories; perceptions, complaints, and patient experience scores. This article offers insight for leaders into the 1st phase of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) adoption.

Background: Family presence improves patient safety and satisfaction; however, 70% of US healthcare organizations maintain restrictive visitation policies.

EC as PIE: five criteria for executing a successful DNP final project.

The goal of doctor of nursing practice (DNP) programs should be to produce nurses that are uniquely prepared to bridge the gap between the discovery of new knowledge and the scholarship of translation, application, and integration of this new knowledge in practice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2006). However, there is concern over the variability in DNP programs and expected outcomes. The aim of this article is to describe a 5-point system of evaluation to determine whether a DNP final project meets the outcomes of the AACN Essentials of Doctoral Education in Advanced Nursing Practice (2006) in a comprehensive and rigorous way.

Evaluation of the use of bar-code medication administration in nursing practice using an evidence-based checklist.

The goal of this project was to determine whether the use of bar-code medication administration complied with current evidence as to how it should be used. Using an evidence-based checklist, we performed a gap analysis on bar-code medication administration (BCMA) in an acute care setting. Compliance with current evidence was identified through observation and unstructured nurse interviews.

An academic-health service partnership in nursing: lessons from the field.

Purpose: To describe the development of an academic-health services partnership undertaken to improve use of evidence in clinical practice.

Approach: Academic health science schools and health service settings share common elements of their missions: to educate, participate in research, and excel in healthcare delivery, but differences in the business models, incentives, and approaches to problem solving can lead to differences in priorities. Thus, academic and health service settings do not naturally align their leadership structures or work processes.

Evaluation of an evidence-based, nurse-driven checklist to prevent hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections in intensive care units.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 40% of all health care-associated infections. An evidence-based, nurse-driven daily checklist for initiation and continuance of urinary catheters was implemented in 5 adult intensive care units. Measures of compliance, provider satisfaction, and clinical outcomes were recorded.

Priorities and challenges of health system chief nursing executives: insights for nursing educators.

The health system chief nursing executive (CNE) is responsible for providing high-quality, service-oriented nursing care; delivering such care with disciplined cost management; leading and developing a group of nursing executives and managers at the facility level to establish nursing professional development programs and to build and maintain an effective supply of nurses; and advocating nurses and patients. This article provides insight into the strategies and priorities of large health system CNEs in balancing their obligations to their health systems, to patients and their families, and to the nurses they lead. It is hoped that these insights will provide perspectives that will support the ability of nursing educators to meet their own obligations to their schools of nursing, the faculty and students they represent, and to the profession.