As American health care systems have developed, the role of the nurse executive within the senior leadership team has evolved and is recognized as an essential leadership team member. While functions of strategic planning, finance, and human resource management have always been considered essential parts of the system leadership infrastructure, there has often been a void related to the voice of nursing leadership and the patient care perspective. Today, the system nurse executive is positioned to influence health system performance in a variety of ways and make unique contributions to the system leadership team. In today's environment, system performance and reimbursement levels are being impacted significantly by quality, service, and effective care management. With this, the role of strong system nurse leadership has developed and has been accepted with increasing frequency as a critical ingredient for success.
As health systems continue to form, affiliate, merge, and consolidate, the role of the system-level nurse executive has continued to evolve and grow in influence and importance to the entire health care system enterprise. With increasingly broad accountabilities, this senior executive role has a major influence on development of the nursing workforce, the quality and safety of patient care, effective resource deployment/management, and the overall strategic direction and development of the health system. To function effectively, the system nurse executive has crucial partnerships with colleagues in nursing as well as strategy, operations, finance, and medicine, all of which are necessary to ensure a strong and productive patient care enterprise.
Given the considerable transformation occurring within the health care system today, we felt that the role and influence of the system nurse executive were deserving of some focus and exploration. This Nursing Administration Quarterly issue will highlight the role of health system nursing leaders and reflect on the major contributions of this role in governing and leading today's health systems. It is also important that chief executive officers and their governing boards grasp the true potential and impact of this role as uniquely different from the hospital unit: chief nursing officer. For this issue, we invited authors considered as nursing thought leaders from across many of America's leading health systems. Not only did we want to focus on the phenomenal work these senior nursing leaders are doing but we also wanted to make a convincing case that these roles are essential to health system leadership and are even more relevant in a transformed health care system.
Of special note, is an article by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, which convened a task force to specifically identify and describe the roles of the system nurse executive and create a means of support and networking and connection for nurse leaders who hold these unique roles.
As issue editors, we would like to thank these authors for their wisdom, role insights, and, most important, for their courage and commitment to represent nursing at the highest levels of our nation's health systems. Their roles represent a unique opportunity for nurse leaders to impact health outcomes in a broader regional and/or national scale. We thank them for offering their voice on behalf of nurses and patients.
-Carol Bradley, MSN, RN, CENP
-Joyce Batcheller, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Guest Editors