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Professional nursing organizations play a central role in connecting nurse leaders across borders, advancing leadership science, and addressing shared challenges, including workforce sustainability, burnout, and policy influence. Little is known about how specialized professional nursing organizations with a primarily national membership base can build and sustain meaningful international membership. Barriers to and facilitators of international membership in professional nursing leadership organizations have received limited attention in the literature, particularly from the perspectives of international members themselves. The aims of the study are to explore the perspectives of international nurse leaders enrolled in the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing International Ambassador Program on what motivates and sustains their engagement, the leadership-related benefits they seek, the organizational supports that would make engagement more feasible, and the contributions they bring as members of an international nursing leadership community.
A qualitative descriptive design was used.
Data were collected using a Zoom-based focus group with five of 11 nurse leader ambassadors enrolled in the program. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-phase reflexive thematic analysis. Trustworthiness was supported through investigator triangulation, peer debriefing, an audit trail, and reflexive review of researcher perspectives.
Four themes were developed: (1) reciprocal exchange, in which members positioned themselves as contributors as well as recipients; (2) engaging on our own terms, framing access and context-sensitivity as preconditions of membership; (3) belonging as more than membership, distinguishing formal affiliation from felt inclusion in a community of nurse leaders; and (4) growth through sustained international relationships, in which professional growth depends on ongoing cross-border connection rather than time-bound programs.
Findings suggest that international nursing leadership organizations should build infrastructure for reciprocal contribution, equitable access, substantive belonging, and sustained cross-border relationships to engage and retain global members.
Engagement in global nursing communities facilitates the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and innovations across healthcare settings. These opportunities can strengthen leadership development, support evidence-based practice, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Engaging frontline nurses in evidence-based practice (EBP) remains a challenge due to time constraints, variable experience levels, and competing priorities. Shared governance councils, particularly those grounded in a learner-centered approach, can serve as platforms for nurse-led EBP initiatives that influence practice and policy.
To describe how a shared governance council at a large academic medical center successfully implemented a year-long EBP initiative focused on fall prevention, leading to practice and policy change.
Using the Advancing Research and Clinical Practice through Close Collaboration (ARCC) model and the Seven Steps of EBP, council members received mentorship and education from EBP experts. Members collaborated in small groups to develop a PICO(T) question, conduct literature searches, critically appraise evidence, synthesize findings, and disseminate results.
The initiative resulted in high levels of nurse engagement, growth in EBP knowledge and confidence, and a formal change in the hospital's nursing fall prevention policy. Council members developed skills in critical appraisal and scholarly dissemination. The council's work was presented at multiple internal and external forums.
This case demonstrates that shared governance councils can drive meaningful change to improve outcomes. EBP shared governance councils are important for engaging nurses at all levels to promote and sustain EBP in nursing at the bedside and beyond. Hospitals should support shared governance councils by offering protected time, mentorship, and integration into strategic priorities. Councils should focus on policy-relevant initiatives and use structured, learner-centered methods to promote engagement, confidence, and sustained impact. This model is replicable and highlights the role of structural support in fostering EBP capacity and practice transformation.
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