INNOVATIVE METHODS OF LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR NURSING STUDENTS. A LITERATURE REVIEW

One of the goals of nursing education is to develop caring and responsible nurses with clinical reasoning skills who are capable of improving outcomes in complex healthcare systems. Leadership in nursing is one of the most frequently highlighted requirements for safety, quality and efficient delivery of health services. The key question is how to teach leadership and develop leadership capacity of a new generation of nurses most effectively.

Aim of the study:
To analyze the current literature on innovative and effective methods of leadership training for nursing students.

The literature review:
A number of papers regarding innovative, effective methods of efficient leadership training for nursing students including coaching, collaborative mentorship and dedicated education units can be found in the current nursing literature.

Coaching has become a popular strategy for leadership development and change in complex environments. The term coaching is derived from a French term that means to convey a valued person from one point to another. It is believed that the earliest form of coaching can be traced back 2,400 years. Socrates may be the first known coach. Through his use of dialogue and questioning, Socrates was able to elicit greater insight and understanding through reflective reasoning and questioning. The Socratic method is still seen as a means to enhance self-confidence in our ability to reason by encouraging ordinary human reflection in a dialogue setting.

Collaborative mentoring (CM) is a mutual, reciprocal relationship in which both mentors and protégés bring their experiences and expertise to the interaction in order to teach and learn from one another. Collaborative mentoring (CM) between faculty and students is a vital learning experience for student development in both the classroom and clinical experiences.

The Dedicated Education Unit model (DEU) capitalizes on the expertise of clinicians and faculty by pairing a nursing student with a staff nurse mentor who serves as a clinical instructor (CI). Academic faculty support the CIs and the students to ensure that learning objectives are met. Students are exposed to a wide range of experiences, as both clinical and academic faculty facilitate the application of theory to practice. The students in a DEU have an immersion experience that provides a unique opportunity for them to learn to actualize their professional role.

Concept-based teaching (CBT) as pedagogy focuses student learning on a core set of concepts relevant to nursing, such as perfusion, pain, coping, or glucose regulation. By gaining a deep understanding of key concepts, students are able to recognize recurring characteristics and apply them to a wide variety of clinical situations.

All of these presented methods have a huge potential to enhance leadership development in nursing students and all of these methods will be presented in detail in the following paper.

Nursing is a practice profession, and preparation for leadership roles requires teaching leadership in practice and with intensive socialization, including coaching and modelling by nurse educators and nurse and healthcare leaders. Most of all the effective, innovative methods presented in the current literature of nursing student leadership education involve a mentor-mentee relationship. To integrate leadership skills into nursing practice, the cultivation of connection, collaboration, and voice must begin early in a student’s career.