Upsetting the Apple Cart: Leadership in the Era of Healthcare Reform

The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Transforming Health is compelling in its focus on the necessity of “… producing leaders throughout the system, from the bedside to the boardroom.”  Arming DNP students with the knowledge and skills necessary to begin their leadership journey falls squarely within the province of DNP education. Indeed, competency in Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking (AACN, 2006) is a fundamental outcome for DNP graduates.  The challenge going forward will be to examine how and if programs are achieving that expectation. The purpose of this discussion is to reflect on leadership as a concept, how it has changed, how we teach it, how we practice and model it, and most importantly how we as educators, in the words of Abdul Kalam, former President of India, “…build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model.”  Through a series of key questions participants will engage in the process of rethinking old beliefs, practices, and sacred cows and identifying new strategies to prepare doctoral students to assume leadership roles as they travel on their own personal leadership journey. The panelists for this discussion have been actively engaged in the planning and development of the DNP, writing program proposals and being instrumental in the approval process. All are involved in implementation and teaching leadership content in post-baccalaureate or post-master’s programs. Their insight has informed discussions in many venues including forums, presentations and publications that explored emerging DNP leadership opportunities and challenges presented by healthcare reform.