Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Setting A Course: A Critical Review Of The Literature On Nurse Leadership In Australia, John Hurley, Marie Hutchinson

Professor John Hurley

Nurse leadership capability that is constructed, nurtured and supported from pre-registration level into the mature career stages intuitively appears to offer benefit for all health stakeholders. Literature suggests such effective nurse leadership impacts positively on not only the quality of clinical care, but also the working environment in which nursing is conducted. Yet a coordinated strategic impetus to develop this leadership capability throughout the nursing profession in Australia remains elusive to quantify. Australia produces many outstanding nurse leaders despite this apparent lack of strategic direction, and yet perhaps due to this lack of cohesive direction nursing leadership is arguably not …