There is growing evidence in the nursing literature regarding the positive impact of healthy work environments on staff satisfaction, retention, improved patient outcomes, and organizational performance. The establishment of a healthy work environment requires strong nursing leadership at all levels of the organization, but especially at the point of care or unit level where most front line staff work and patient care is delivered. Growing future nurse leaders is a long term quest. It can be challenging for today’s leaders to predict what knowledge, skills, and abilities will be needed to lead in the future. This article presents a review of the literature regarding the importance of healthy work environments in healthcare organizations and the significant role of nurse leaders in building and sustaining these healthy environments. It also discusses the development of leadership skills by presenting the Nurse Manager Leadership Collaborative Learning Domain Framework, a widely used competency model for nursing leadership development that can serve as a useful resource in the development of leaders at the unit level.

business of caring --- Clinical Nurse Leaders --- communication --- conflict management --- development --- emerging nurse leaders --- healthy work environments --- leadership --- Nurse Manager Leadership Collaborative Learning Domain Framework --- NMLC --- nursing

In a healthy work environment (HWE) professionals use skilled communication styles to achieve positive outcomes. In the HWE literature, the major communication emphasis to date has focused on the manager's responsibility to facilitate skilled communication. This article focuses on the individual nurse's responsibility to become a skilled communicator. Parse's Theory of Human Becoming is used to conceptualize a Five-Factor Model for Becoming a Skilled Communicator. These five factors include awareness of self-deception, along with reflection, authenticity, mindfulness, and candor. After reviewing key communication-healthy work environment documents, the article describes five behaviors that help nurses reach their goal of becoming skilled communicators.

authentic --- candid --- healthy work environment --- mindful --- Parse’s Theory of Becoming --- professional communication --- reflective --- self deception --- skilled communicators

Healthy work environments in the nursing academic setting are essential for the recruitment and retention of faculty; they also serve to promote excellence in nursing education. Although the early efforts addressing healthy work environments focused on the clinical practice setting, more recent efforts have also considered the work environment in academic settings. The National League for Nursing has focused on work environments in academia and has published the Healthful Work Environment Tool Kit© that can be used by applicants for faculty positions, current faculty members, and nurse administrators to assess an academic work environment. The tool kit addresses the following nine work-related areas: salaries, benefits, workload, collegial environment, role preparation and professional development, scholarship, institutional support, marketing and recognition, and leadership. These areas are used to frame the discussion of how nursing faculty and administrators can work together to assess and enhance the health of nursing academic workplaces.

work environments --- salaries --- benefits --- workload --- collegial --- professional development --- support --- marketing --- recognition --- leadership --- tool kit --- National League for Nursing --- NLN

This article describes the complex work of registered nurses (RNs) in current healthcare settings and presents strategies for promoting healthy work environments in the midst of this complexity. First it addresses the complexity in delivering patient care by reviewing recent research on the work of nursing and explaining the concept of RN stacking. Then it considers four important activities for supporting RN decision making and establishing a healthy work environment, namely, “designing out” system barriers to care, designing and implementing appropriate technology, focusing on nursing direct care functions, and supporting the new RN.

cognitive work of nursing --- complex adaptive system --- complexity science --- complex work environments --- mindfulness --- patient care assignments --- prioritizing --- RN stacking --- RN work complexity --- situation awareness --- stacking --- trade-off decisions --- workflow management

It has been forty four years since the American Nurses Association (ANA) published its first position paper on entry into practice advocating that the baccalaureate degree be the minimum degree for entry into registered nurse practice. During that time period, only one state, North Dakota, was successful at getting the entry into practice proposal fully implemented, and even there it was rescinded in 2003. Although there has been much general discussion as to why the proposal initially failed, little has been written on this topic strictly from a policy perspective. This article begins with a brief history of nursing education leading up to the 1965 entry into practice paper (ANA 1965a). This is followed by a look at recent discussions and developments concerning the entry into practice proposal, an examination of the events surrounding the failure of the proposal in the original four focus states identified by the ANA for early implementation, and a discussion identifying possible reasons for the proposal’s initial failures. Encouragement and suggestions for present and future entry into practice supporters are provided.

American Nurses Association First Position on Nursing Education --- cohesion within nursing --- entry into practice --- nursing education --- agenda setting --- nursing practice --- interest groups