Strategy development to sustain and strengthen the Navy Nurse Corps

This article demonstrates how the strategic planning process was utilized to determine organizational priorities for the Navy Nurse Corps amidst a time of ongoing conflicts in Iraq and professional duress resulting from the national nursing shortage. The authors denote how overarching organizational goals of the US Navy and Navy medicine are woven into the priorities that were established for Navy Nursing. The emerging 6 priorities are relevant and vital to the sustainment of Navy Nursing today and in the future. They reflect the challenges associated with the development of clinical proficiency, educational policies, force structure/recruitment and retention, mid-grade and senior leadership roles, productivity measurement, and organizational communication. Similarly, these priorities mirror those that confront and warrant the attention of chief nursing officers in the civilian sector as they lead and develop their workforce.