Abstract
This department is designed to stimulate your curiosity, sharpen your skills, rekindle your spirit, revive your wit, and remind you why you love nursing and especially why you love being a leader in nursing. It is your job to motivate, stimulate, and provoke excellence and ambition in your staff-a staff that can range in educational preparation from the General Equivalency Diploma to the PhD, with employees who maintain a sanitary environment and provide clean linen to patients working alongside those who are accountable for complex clinical care. Regardless of educational preparation, skills, or level of responsibility, your staff are all entrusted with the day-to-day care of patients commended ultimately into your safekeeping.
This article addresses several important motivational strategies that cross barriers of education, licensure, and job title. They include cheerleading, noticing patient care excellence and innovative ideas and devices, helping creative staff members patent such devices, and encouraging and broadcasting your staff members' excellence and creativity. Reader input is invited.