Toward COVID-19 recovery: Advanced practice nurse leadership in rural Vermont.

Abstract

To reflect on the inclusion of an advanced practice nurse (APN) on a clinical leadership team in rural Vermont during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, APNs contributed to the reimagining of healthcare delivery. In response to pandemic-related organizational needs, one rural health center in Vermont promoted an APN to a leadership position. This critical reflection describes the experience of one APN promoted to a clinical leadership role during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Vermont in the United States. We use the four stages of crisis (escalation, emergency, recovery, and resolution) and the healthcare leadership framework proposed by Geerts etal. (2021) to consider how APN leaders can contribute in the "recovery stage" of the pandemic. APNs who took on leadership roles during the pandemic may have had fewer opportunities to participate in formal leadership development. However, in the case of our rural health center, an APN was able to seek out mentorship, address operational challenges, and provide representation for advanced practice providers. This article contributes to the literature on APN leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, by describing a leadership opportunity that helped build APN leadership capability and capacity in our organization. APNs offer a valuable perspective on health leadership teams. As organizations move toward the recovery stage of the pandemic, different leadership styles and skills may be required. The COVID-19 pandemic provided unexpected leadership opportunities for APNs. Healthcare organizations now have opportunities to reimagine clinical leadership in ways that include APNs.