Leading change through an international faculty development programme.

AIMS: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the modification of an American model of academic leadership training for utilization in an African university and to pilot test the efficacy of the resulting model. BACKGROUND: Traditionally many educators have moved into administrative positions without adequate training. Current world standards require leadership preparation for a wide array of persons. However, this opportunity did not yet exist in the study setting. METHOD: University leaders from the University of the Western Cape and the University of Missouri collaborated on revising and pilot testing a successful American academic leadership programme for use among African faculty. Cross-cultural adaptations, participant satisfaction and subsequent outcomes were assessed during the 2-year 'train-the-trainer' leadership development programme. RESULTS: African faculty successfully modified the American training model, participated in training activities, and after 2 years, began to offer the service to other institutions in the region, which has increased the number of nurses in Africa who have had, and who will continue to have, the opportunity to move up the career ladder. CONCLUSION: The impact of the project extended further than originally expected, as the original plan to utilize the training materials at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) for the in-house faculty was expanded to allow UWC to utilize the modified materials to serve leadership development needs of faculty in other African universities. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Study findings will inform those interested in university policy and procedure on leadership training issues. The successful development of a self-sustaining leadership programme in which values of multiple cultures must be appropriately addressed has a significant impact for nursing administration. With the severe nursing shortage, health care institutions must develop cost effective yet quality development programmes to assure the succession of current staff into leadership positions. We no longer have the luxury of recruiting broadly and we must identify those talented nurses within our own institutions and prepare them for advanced leadership roles. This succession plan is especially important for the next generation of nurse leaders representing minority populations. In particular, nurse managers will find the overview of the literature for middle managers enlightening, and may find links to key resources that could be revised to be more culturally relevant for use in a wide array of settings.

Evolution of accreditation in continuing nursing education in America.

There is widespread agreement that nurses must acquire and maintain the specialized knowledge needed to provide highly skilled care and to demonstrate their competence to the public, their employers, their profession, and patients on an ongoing basis throughout their work lives. Nurses report that continuing nursing education is the third most vital component of nursing skill building. Nurses from states that mandate continuing nursing education, as well as those from states that do not, rank continuing nursing education just after their workplace experience and their basic nursing education in importance. A wide range of organizations create and disseminate continuing nursing education to nurses in states with and without mandated continuing nursing education requirements. Although there is no governmental standard for the field, nursing monitors education across work-life stages. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing monitors nursing licensure and continuing nursing education. The credentialing arm of the American Nurses Association, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, acting in synch with national organizations that call for accreditation standards in the health care professions, provides review and accreditation of providers and approvers of continuing nursing education on a national basis and is, itself, internationally certified by International Standards for a Sustainable World.

Comparison of native versus nonnative English-speaking nurses on critical thinking assessments at entry and exit.

Diversity of language among healthcare employees and nursing students is growing as diversity increases among the general population. Institutions have begun to develop systems to accommodate diversity and to assimilate workers. One barrier to nonnative English-speaking nurse hires may be posed by readiness for the licensure exam and the critical thinking assessments that are now an expected outcome of nursing programs, and act as a gatekeeper to graduation and to employment. To assist in preparing for high-stakes testing, the Assessment Technologies Institute Critical Thinking Assessment was developed in compliance with credentialing bodies' educational outcomes criteria. This pilot study of 209 nursing students was designed to reveal any possible language bias that might act as a barrier to nonnative English speakers. Nursing students were entered as whole classes to the study to control for selection bias. A sample representative of national nursing enrollment was obtained from 21 universities, with 192 (92%) native English-speaking students and 17 (8%) nonnative English speakers participating in the study. All students were given the Assessment Technologies Institute Critical Thinking Assessment at entry and exit to their nursing program. Average scores on entry were 66% for nonnative speakers and 72% for native speakers. At exit, the nonnative speakers had closed the gap in academic outcomes. They had an average score of 72% compared to 73% for native speakers. The study found that the slight differences between the native and nonnative speakers on 2 exit outcome measures-National Council licensure examination (NCLEX-RN) pass rates and Critical Thinking Assessment-were not statistically significant, demonstrating that nonnative English speakers achieved parity with native English-speaking peers on the Critical Thinking Assessment tool, which is often believed to be related to employment readiness.