Leadership development: educating nurse practitioners for the future

The development of leadership potential is recognized to be an essential component of nurse practitioner education to prepare graduates for a dynamic health care system. Leadership potential refers to those skills that enable a nurse practitioner to function as a change agent and to effectively resolve conflict. The purpose of the study was to examine personal variables (personality type, self-esteem, and learning style) with respect to the leadership potential of pediatric nurse practitioner graduates over a 3-year period. The research study was descriptive, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The subjects consisted of 21 female students who completed five instruments used to measure the relationships between variables and leadership potential. Significant results were found between those students who learned abstractly and the ability to function effectively as a change agent post-program.