Effective leadership is considered essential in this era of
health system reform. In the Australian context, at a
national and state level, a number of recent enquiries that
have identified the need for purposeful education for
leadership across the health professions, including nursing
(Garling 2007, Bennet 2009, Daly et al. 2009). This
is in line with international studies (primarily from the
US) which have supported the use of a collaborative
approach, whereby knowledge gained from the health
sector is used to inform curriculum, and vice versa.
Concerns from healthcare executives that nurse leaders
lacked appropriate skills in team building, evidencebased
practice, cultural change, and communications was
the catalyst for a collaborative approach to management
and leadership education (Crosby &Shields 2010). Hahn
(2010) reports on a collaboration between an American
university and a local community health facility, which
aimed to foster the development of new nurse leaders in
the facility. The programme was designed after a consultation
process between key stakeholders, with the
health facility executives discussing the needs of the
workplace, and the university executives considering how
an academic programme could be designed to meet these
needs (Hahn 2010). The collaboration with the health
facility also enabled the students to gain valuable practical
experience, in addition to theoretical knowledge.