Succession planning in an academic medical center nursing service.

Succession planning is of strategic importance in any industry. It ensures the smooth transition from leader to leader and the ability of the organization to maintain the forward momentum as well as meet its operational and financial goals. Health care and nursing are no exception. In the complex and challenging world of health care today, leadership is critical to an organization's success and leadership succession is a key strategy used to ensure continuity of leadership and development of talent from within the organization. At Rush University Medical Center, a 667-bed academic medical center providing tertiary care to adults and children, the need for a focus on succession planning for the nursing leadership team is apparent as key leaders come to the end of their careers and consider retirement. It has become apparent that to secure the legacy and continue the extraordinary history of nursing excellence, care must be taken to grow talent from within and take the opportunity to leverage the mentoring opportunities before the retirement of many key leaders. To ensure a smooth leadership transition, nursing leadership and human resources partner at Rush University Medical Center to implement a systematic approach to leadership succession planning.