Digital communication is no longer optional for nurse leaders – it is a core leadership skill. In this episode of Nursing Insights, we sit down with Alysia Adams, Director of Education Partnerships at the American Organization of Nursing Leadership, to explore the digital communication competencies now shaping nursing leadership across the country.

Alysia shares what led her to research digital communication, the barriers nurse leaders face online, and how storytelling, ethics, boundaries, and inclusivity play a critical role in effective leadership. She also explains how these competencies were developed through a Delphi study and why they are now being incorporated into national leadership standards.

This conversation offers practical insight for nurse leaders at every level who want to communicate with clarity, confidence, and purpose in the digital era.

Key Takeaways

• Why communication is a foundational skill for effective nurse leadership
• The most common barriers preventing nurse leaders from engaging digitally
• How storytelling strengthens trust, visibility, and influence
• Why ethics and credibility rank highest among digital competencies
• The importance of boundaries and well-being in digital leadership
• How nurse leaders can communicate across generations effectively
• Simple first steps for leaders who want to improve their digital presence

Relevant Links

• American Organization of Nursing Leadership: https://www.aonl.org
• Nurse Leader Journal: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/nurse-leader
• New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing: https://www.njccn.org

Nurse fatigue isn’t just uncomfortable – it’s dangerous. In this episode, Dr. Pamela Hines and crisis nurse Brett Bagshaw from Children’s National Hospital explain how their organization became a national leader in implementing sanctioned night-shift napping. From alarming survey data to cultural barriers, space challenges, HR policy changes, and real nurse stories, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for any hospital looking to prioritize safety and wellness for its night-shift staff.

Key Takeaways

• Night-shift fatigue has real safety consequences, including drowsy driving and impaired clinical performance.
• A small, well-designed pilot project helped Children’s National gain leadership buy-in before expanding napping hospital-wide.
• Clear guidelines, protected spaces, and strong collaboration with security and HR were essential to implementation.
• Not all units adopt napping the same way – autonomy and unit-level decision-making improved success and acceptance.
• Survey data revealed high rates of near-miss incidents related to fatigue, strengthening the case for change.
• Napping is one part of a broader wellness approach that includes sleep hygiene, nutrition, and night-shift–specific support systems.
• A strong safety message helped shift culture: nurses must come to work rested, and naps are not guaranteed.
• Implementing napping can support recruitment, retention, and a perception of organizational care for night-shift workers.

Additional Reading

• Geiger-Brown, Harlow, Bagshaw, Sagherian & Hinds: “One Hospital’s Successful Initiative to Implement Napping for Night Shift Nurses.”https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34528852/
• Napping on the Night Shift: A Two-Hospital Implementation Project (Am J Nurs, 2016) https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/39786

For today’s episode, hosted by Susan Weaver, Nurse Scientist, New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing, we have something special for you. We’re coming to you from a committee room at the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton, where we’ll be speaking with three distinguished panelists about political advocacy and state-level testimony.

Our guests today are:

• Dr. Marcel Kaganovskaya, APN and President of the Society of Psychiatric APNs, and Assistant Professor at Felician University School of Nursing
• Tyla Minniear, Chief Operating Officer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute
• Rose M. Catton, Executive Director of the New Jersey State School Nurses Association

If you prefer to watch this, you can find the video recordings on our YouTube channel.