ERA+ Clinical Leadership in Nursing Education

Clinical leadership involves a healthcare provider using their personal influence to impact individuals or groups, with the goal of improving patient outcomes and strengthening the broader healthcare environment. They recognize their influence and their professional and ethical responsibilities. They are clinical experts who provide direct patient care. In their actions, they demonstrate emotional intelligence, challenge ineffective work processes, and inspire others to take action. From this position, they participate in decision-making within an interprofessional practice setting based on clinical autonomy. 

Definition used by ERA+ consortium based on Grindel, C. G. (2016). Clinical Leadership: A Call to Action. Medsurg Nurs, 25(1), 9-16

This ERA+ clinical leadership in nursing education framework was developed through a literature review, expert validation across partner countries, and feedback from workshops with practitioners, educators, and nursing students. 

It provides a shared conceptual basis for clinical leadership in nursing and supports the identification of competency gaps and the development of a clinical leadership library. 

The framework has been published in the Laurea Journal (Alastalo et al., 2025).