Building Adaptive Nurse Leaders for Future Army Full Spectrum Operations

The Army Nurse Corps life cycle model outlines major milestones that are required, expected, or recommended to be achieved for career success and to prepare Army Nurses to become senior leaders in the Army Medical Department. It is important to ensure Army nurses will be prepared to function in the uncertain current and future full spectrum operational environment. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the Army Nurse Corps Life Cycle Model and avenues within the model to determine specific aspects of education and developmental experiences that will assist in developing Army Nurse Corps officers to become adaptive senior nurse leaders. Fifteen interviews were conducted of senior Army Nurse Corps officers to find common themes on what specific aspect of education and developmental experiences need to be incorporated into the Army Nurse Corps lifecycle model. Purposive sampling was used to ensure a sample population with a variety of experiences to include deployments, recruiting, command and joint operational assignments. Results indicated major themes in areas of improvement such as military education, field experience, renewed focus of medical surgical bedside nurse care for junior officers and the need to create two tracks for the life cycle model to ensure equal opportunity of advancement for both expert clinicians and administrative leaders.

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