Making sense of the nursing pipeline crisis : a narrative research study examining nurse leader sensemaking of the nursing crisis as they seek innovative strategies to develop the next generation of nurse leaders

In a continuously changing industry, nurse leaders are identified as vital in managing the costs and quality of healthcare delivery. The nurse leader pipeline is set to undergo changes in availability resulting from impending retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, nurse burnout and nurse decisions to leave nursing for other occupations. The time to identify and develop nurses who succeed these exiting nurse leaders has proven to be challenging. In response to this problem of practice, the central purpose of this research was to look at how healthcare organizations address the nursing shortage to build the nurse leadership (NL) pipeline for the future sustainability of the NL practice. Specifically, this research examined: How do experienced nurse leaders describe their sensemaking of the nursing pipeline crisis as they seek innovative strategies to develop current and inexperienced nurses into future leaders? The research was conducted using Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory and included five NL participants in the study. Sensemaking theory was also used for data collection and analysis for this study. This study revealed invaluable lessons in needing to tap into the insights of the organization’s nurse leaders to establish a baseline understanding of how they and their organizations have contributed to developing and retaining its nursing staff that will eventually succeed them. Through the complex process of sensemaking, the goal of clinical and leadership development strategies need to be representative of the uniqueness of the nurse and responsive to the continuous changes occurring in the healthcare industry.