North Star Summit: The Vision for the Future
In June 2011, Dr Victoria Rich and the University of Pennsylvania hosted an invitational nurse executive Northstar Summit in an extraordinary effort to engage nurse leaders from across the country and to create a vision for the future by determining areas of research needed to advance nurse executive practice. An intense 11/2-day think tank focused on 3 leadership domains as the framework for the future of nurse leadership practice: Domain of Professional and Personal Organizational Leadership; Domain of High Reliability in Nursing Practice; and Domain of Transition in Care.
The issue guest co-editor for this issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly, dedicated to the proceedings of this nurse executive international forum, is Victoria L. Rich, PhD, RN, FAAN, chief nurse executive, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, associate executive director, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and assistant professor, nursing administration, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. As chief nurse executive at Penn Medicine, Dr Rich provides strategic and transformational leadership across the care continuum for (1) Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: the 802-bed academic medical center; (2) Clinical Practices of Penn Medicine: 50 medical practices, 2 off-site ambulatory surgery centers; (3) the Perelman Ambulatory Center for Advanced Medicine; and (4) the Penn Institute for Rehabilitative Medicine. Dr Rich has received many honors and award: Inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, 2006; distinguished alumni award, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2007; distinguished alumni award, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing; and most recently, she was appointed to the University of Pittsburgh's School of Nursing Board of Visitors.
She has been an international consultant/scholar in Doha, Qatar; Botswana, South Africa; Royal College of Nursing, London, England; Hong Kong; and Japan. Her work is widely published, and she writes a regular column, "News From the Front," for Nursing Administration Quarterly. Her outstanding leadership and advocacy for excellence in nursing practice is evidenced in this issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly.
Joining her in planning and conducting the Northstar Summit "Vision for the Future" is Kathleen G. Burke, PhD, RN, CENP, guest coeditor for this issue. In September 2010, Dr Burke was appointed corporate director, Nursing Professional Development and Innovation, University of Pennsylvania Health System. This role provides oversight of Nursing Education and Innovation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania, and Home Care and Hospice Services and Rehabilitation at Good Shepherd Penn Partners. Dr Burke was also appointed assistant dean for Clinical Nurse Learning and Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and serves as a lecturer in the Nursing Administration and Health Leadership graduate nursing program. Before this, she was the program director for Nursing Administration and Health Leadership graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, which was selected number one nursing administration program by US News & World Report in 2010.
With this dynamic duo leading the way to the Vision for the Future in Nursing Administration research and education, we can look forward to increasing excellence in the professional practice environments for patient care. As we attempt to forecast the future for education and research for nurse executives, we would be remiss if we failed to consider what the world around us might be like in 2100. This date is long after my time on earth is over, but in predicting deliverable research questions, physicist Michio Kaku says, "Ageless people will think objects into existence."1
On the basis of interviews with 300 of the world's top scientists, he put together a list of what the world will look like in 100 years:
1. The Internet will be your contact lens.
2. Computers will disappear, as will cell phones, clocks, watches, and MP3 players. (I really like this one.)
3. Cars will be driverless, using GPS to navigate without the help of an alert human behind the wheel. And they will fly.
4. Doctors will be able to grow "spare parts" for our organs as they wear out.
5. The human life span will be extended. At my recent physical examination, my physician said, "I hope you have lots of money, Barbara, because you will live a very long time."
6. Molecular "smart bombs" circulating in our blood will home in on, zap, and kill cancer cells.
7. Our toilets and bathroom mirrors will contain DNA sensors, capable of detecting proteins emitted from perhaps a hundred cancer cells in a cancer colony, 10 years before a tumor forms.
8. The robot industry will dwarf the size of the current automobile industry.
9. Tourists will soar into outer space via space elevators.
10. With advanced technology will also come advanced dangers, especially biological warfare, nuclear proliferation, and global warming.
So, as we move forward in transforming the profession of nursing, what will be necessary for our future? If there would be 1 key question to research, what would it be? At the summit, all in attendance were asked to determine a key question in each of the following 4 areas:
1. What leadership characteristics are the drivers of nurse leader's ability to achieve transformation in practice?
2. How can nurse executives partner with (and incent) researchers to build the evidence needed to support electronic capture and measurement of effective nursing care processes?
3. What strategies should nurse leaders implement in their institutions to attain high-reliability health care organizations?
4. What is the professional profile of the nursing leader who positively impacts efficient and effective patient outcomes across settings?
As you read this issue, themed "Vision for the Future," please let Nursing Administration Quarterly know your thoughts. You are our future and come from various and diverse backgrounds, and you will lead the way as I begin a transition to retirement at the end of 2012.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page. - Saint Augustine
-Barbara J. Brown, EdD, RN, CNAA,
FNAP, FAAN
Editor-in-Chief
Nursing Administration Quarterly
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