The World Health Organisation recognized the global shortage shortages of highly qualified nurses as a limiting factor to rapid scale-up of global nursing capacity (WHO 2016). OECD reported a growing increase in international migration of highly qualified nurses working in health and education (OECD 2009). Studies and reports have acknowledged the lack of highly qualified postdoctoral nurse educators and academic career opportunities for postdoctoral nurses, which is necessary to enhance patient care through the creation of evidence base to inform practice in which nurse educators play a pivotal role (Moreno-Cabas, 2005; Segrott., 2006, Richards 2013). This is based on the evidence that higher educated nurses result in lower mortality (Aiken 2014). There is a growing evidence that leadership competencies (Northouse, 2004) positively impact health care outcomes (Gilmartin and D’Aun, 2007), including nursing (Cummings et al., 2010). This calls for new developments in education of the nursing workforce. The target groups are doctoral nursing students and postdoctoral nurses working in education and research. The overall objectives of the project are: a) To stimulate the future generation of leaders in nursing education and research who encourage and foster high performing, education research environments, supportive and collaborative research output; b) To train and educate doctoral nursing students and postdoctoral nurses who will be qualified for professorships and thereby to focus on high quality education and research, as shown by substantial achievement in education, research, international collaboration impacting patients, families and communities within Europe. These objectives are highly important for the further development of nursing science within Europe. The objective aimed at doctoral nursing students and postdoctoral nurses, is to is promote leadership, research and professional development by utilizing their skills and experiences, which through following the program will improve the quality and relevance of nursing education and strengthen the recruitment of qualified individuals to mentor students. The objective aimed at students (master’s and bachelor), is to improve their leadership competencies by using their own experiences and that of service user educators. The objectives correspond with both horizontal and HE-priorities chosen relevant for this project and will be achieved by involving doctoral students and postdoctoral nurses as partners in the development and utilization of the teaching material. The advantages of co-creation in the development of education is a significant feature of nursing education. This has special relevance for nursing students to stimulate them in pursuing a career in nursing research and education and may as well ensur high quality education, improving the quality of care of patients and clients. The project will develop: a) Two blended learning modules for doctoral students and postdoctoral nurses co-produced by the consortium partners. b) Online community and website. c) Competency profile. d) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) e) Closing symposium. f) Assessment using research conducted throughout the project resulting in publications. g) A Business model and sustainability plan. The products will improve quality and relevance of higher education and help attune the HE-nursing curricula to emerging labour markets needs by developing active cooperation between HEI and local regional bodies. We will achieve the objectives by developing the Nurse-Lead program, offering 1 ½ year program where doctoral students and postdoctoral nurses enhance their competencies in leadership, research, professional development and establish new transnational networks. Also, doctoral students and postdoctoral nurses participating in the program will each identify a mentor who is a strong leader in nursing research and provides mentoring focusing on leadership and research during the program. By carrying out the project transnationally: a) We will ensure relevant teaching material, to be adopted in the participating countries. b) Less advanced countries than others in leadership, research and professional development may learn from the more advanced countries. c) The outcome of the project, assessed in a scientific research, will be more valuable both to the research as well to the project and will strengthen the impact, transferability, generalizability and sustainability of the findings, which will help nursing HEI’s in making adapting the teaching methods and material developed in the project. d) The project will bring together nursing leaders, (post)doctoral nurses and students, to improve collaboration and networking opportunities and result in strengthening education and research capacity of the countries participating which again may give a spinoff to other Europe countries and ultimately lead to improved care of European patient populations.
Nurse leaders are needed to ensure that the distinctive nursing perspective is included in decision-making in global healthcare. There is a lack of highly qualified postdoctoral nurse educators and academic career opportunities for postdoctoral nurses, which is necessary to enhance patient care through the creation of evidence base to inform practice in which nurse educators play a pivotal role. Transformational leadership competencies of nurses positively impact professional, health care and patient outcomes. However, postdoctoral nurses (PN) and Doctoral Nursing Students (DNS), the experts in the field of research and evidence based practice, experience barriers in their professional development and need enhanced strategic leadership competencies to enable them to actualize their expertise in health care so that they are able to operate effectively at all levels in organizations across countries. Based on this background “The Nursing Leadership Educational Program for Postdoctoral nurses and Doctoral nursing students“ - “The Nurse-Lead project“ was established. The Nurse-Lead target groups were doctoral nursing students and postdoctoral nurses working in education and research. The consortium partners included: University of Iceland; University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands, The University of Turku, Finland, Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, Nursing School of Lisbon, Portugal, Vilnius University, Lithuania and Elevate Health, Netherlands. Associative partners were: European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS), European Federation of Nurse Educators (FINE) and Sigma Theta Tau International. The overall objectives were: To stimulate the future generation of leaders in nursing education and research, encouraging high performing, education research environments and to train and educate DNS and PNs to support them in qualifying for professorships, to further stimulate the development of European nursing science. The project resulted in the following outcomes and achievements: An 18 month leadership and mentoring program for PNs and DNs was successfully developed and executed. A total of 50 fellows, including 25 PNs and 25 DNSs followed the online leadership program and mentorship trajectories with experienced leadership health care research. a) Two 18 month online leadership modules for PNs and DNSs were developed and executed. One online module for PNs (7,5 ECTs). Another module was developed for DNS (5 ECTs). Both modules covered a with wide range of topics focusing on leadership and professional development in research and education. b) A closed online community for participants and the project group in Nurse-Lead platform: https://elevatehealth.eu/showcases/blended-learning-programme-on-nursing-leadership/ and a website were developed. https://www.nurselead.org/ c) A MOOC focusing on leadership for nurses and nursing students was developed and run online for 18 months free of charge. A total of 955 nurses from 12 countries followed the module which covered the following topics various topics focusing on leadership and Evidence Based Practice. d) Competency profile: A scoping review was conducted identifying relevant competencies for postdoctoral nurses working in research: Postdoctoral nursing researcher career: A scoping review of required competences. Numminen O, Virtanen H, Hafsteinsdóttir T, Leino-Kilpi H; Nurse Lead Consortium. Nurs Open. 2019 Sep 24;7(1):7-29. e) Business Model for continuation and sustainability: The consortium group has collaborated on a BM and the group has explored ideas and arenas for the continuation and sustainability of the program. The consortium continues work on expanding the Nurse-Lead to include a range of European countries in collaboration with EANS, FINE, ENDA and Sigma Theta Tau International. F) Assessment studies evaluating outcomes and fellows experiences of the project have been conducted which included a survey and interviews among the fellows following the program. g) The Nurse-Lead Closing Symposium: “Competent Leadership in Nursing Science“ took place online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on the 26th and 27th of October. The closing symposium was a huge success, attracting 122 attendees from 26 countries and four continents. Global Key-Note speakers, fellows and consortium partners gave presentations with interactive discussion on various leadership topics. The Nurse-Lead has resulted in various products aiming to improve quality and relevance of higher education and help attune the nursing curricula to emerging labor markets needs by developing active collaboration between HEI and local regional bodies. The project has brought together nursing leaders, (post)doctoral nurses and students, to improve collaboration and networking opportunities, resulting stronger education and research capacity of the countries participating which again may give a spinoff to other countries and ultimately lead to improved European healthcare.