Healthcare leadership includes a commitment to patient-related outcomes. Safe, efficient, patient-centered care is a standard for all healthcare systems. The 2003 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on patient safety and quality healthcare calls for transformational leadership in healthcare organizations to change systems and improve the quality and safety of patient care. Transformational leadership style is key to transforming nursing work environments that lead to a reduction in adverse patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a leadership education program on changing behavioral attributes of nurse managers from a transactional leadership style to a more transformational leadership style. Using the Bass and Avolio Model of Transformational Leadership Style as a theoretical framework, a two-group randomized post test design was used to analyze the effect of a two month educational intervention that focused on learning transformational leadership characteristics coupled with coaching and mentoring.

Data for this study was analyzed using descriptive statistics for the sample output and the Fisher Exact test for participant data to determine the significance of change in leadership attributes and characteristics immediately post intervention and again thirty days post completion of the intervention to establish a measure of data retention by participants. Findings of this study indicated that 72% of the nurse managers in the intervention group had transformational leadership scores above 3.5 and transactional leadership scores below 2.0 immediately post intervention which suggests that nurse managers can develop transformational leadership attributes through education, coaching and mentoring.

The interest for this study was derived from gaps in the literature in identifying leadership style that would support the role of the nurse manager as an effective leader in our current healthcare environment where data and patient outcomes are now becoming a matter of public record for all. Transformational leadership style was examined as a process for both change and development based on exhibited attributes and characteristics in this study. The education program appeared to be an effective intervention for developing transformational leadership characteristics and changing transactional leadership attributes used by nurse managers in their day to day work.