Nurses’ job satisfaction and length of time on the job contribute to better patient outcomes. And research has shown that staff nurses’ job satisfaction is directly linked to their relationships with their immediate supervisors, the charge nurses on their units and the nurse manager.

Yet, despite the fact that theirs is a complex job, few charge nurses and nurse managers receive much formal training in management and leadership. That void can make a difficult job more challenging, creating frustration for both the frontline leaders and the staff nurses – and creating an environment that is not conducive to high-quality patient care.

The Center saw this effect firsthand in the Colorado Consortium for Nursing Retention project on which it has been engaged since 2003. That project aimed to teach front-line managers how to build the problem-solving skills of their staff nurses, empowering those staff nurses to take a more powerful role in patient care.

Yet the project encountered an unexpected stumbling block: higher-than-anticipated turnover of managers at all levels of the organization. Indeed, one of the participating sites had 100 percent turnover among both front-line and executive nursing officers over the first year of the study.

That experience spotlighted the need for focused leadership development efforts aimed at front-line nurses – and the Colorado Consortium for Nursing Leadership Development was born.

This new project will work with front-line nurse leaders in 12 acute long-term care sites in both urban and rural communities around Colorado, as well as with public health nurses.

The coaching and skill-building curriculum is designed to enhance and support managers’ ability to manage change, communicate effectively, deal with difficult personnel problems and create a culture which encourages the growth and learning of each staff nurse while assuring patient safety and satisfaction.

The program is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Project Team

• Karren Kowalski, PhD, RN, FAAN – Project Manager
• Colleen Casper, MSRN – Assistant Project Manager

For more information, contact Wendy Krzeczowski, (303) 715-0343 ext. 18 or wendy@coloradonursingcenter.org