Leadership: The RN clinical leader: one hospital's experience

Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut made some important changes in redesigning its patient care delivery system with the development of a new role: the RN clinical leader. This role provides for RN accountabilities, such as mentoring, data management, evidence-based practice, and shared governance. This article describes the RN clinical leader and the education provided to nurses who assume this role. An evaluation process is underway to capture the impact of this new nursing role. The RN clinical leader is not part of a career ladder in the typical sense. It does, however, recognize nurses who possess additional competencies and want to take on greater responsibility to provide leadership while retaining their role at the bedside. Those competencies are obtained through a formal educational program with immediate application in the hospital itself.