A real and lasting solution to the nursing shortage in Virginia is to keep nurses in the nursing workforce. Building nurses’ leadership skills helps emerging nurse leaders more effectively lead staff, increasing the likelihood that both the nurse leader and his or her staff stay in the job.

The goal of the Nurse Leadership Institute (NLI) is to increase nurse retention in healthcare institutions by increasing nurses’ management and leadership skills. The NLI is a nine-month leadership development program designed for emerging nurse leaders from all sectors of health care – community hospitals, academic health centers, public health, schools of nursing, long term care and home health. It is the only program of its kind in Virginia.

The NLI provides 30 emerging nurse leaders, Fellows, from across Virginia with the opportunity to focus on leadership and management skills needed to increase nurse retention and improve patient outcomes. NLI Fellows participate in retreats and distance learning sessions; assigned readings; work with mentors; and, an Applied Leadership Project. Retreats are held at the Roslyn Retreat and Conference Center in Richmond, VA. All sessions are led by experts in management and leadership fields, including, but not limited to, the field of nursing. Fellows earn Continuing Education (CE) credits and are eligible to earn academic credit through Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Nursing.

The NLI is a program of the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation (www.rmhfoundation.org). The NLI is a member of the 2007 Cohort of Partners Investing in Nursing's Future (PIN) network, a partnership of the Northwest Health Foundation (NWHF) and the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation and local foundations investing in nursing workforce solutions.

The Institute enjoys broad community support from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Nursing, the Virginia Health Care Association, Virginia Nurses’ Association, Virginia Nurses’ Foundation, Virginia Partnership for Nursing, the Virginia Organization of Nurse Executives, as well as hospitals, health systems and other healthcare providers across the Commonwealth that sponsor their employees participation in the Institute. The Institute is grateful for the early financial and intellectual contributions of the Cameron Foundation, John Randolph Foundation, NWHF/RWJ Foundation and Virginia Partnership for Nursing.

*Future Virginia nursing supply was projected by the Health Workforce Data Center of the Virginia Department of Health Professions by applying the Nurse Supply Model (NSM) developed by the US Health and Resource Services Administration (HRSA) (www.dhp.virginia.gov/hwdc; January 2010).