Nurse leaders experience high levels of stress, fatigue, and burnout, often worsened by poor sleep quality and circadian disruption. Digital tools that support sleep optimization may help strengthen well-being and resilience in this population. This randomized, waitlist-controlled pilot study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a digital circadian-based sleep intervention and explored its impact on sleep quality, insomnia severity, and resilience among nurse leaders. Forty nurse leaders were randomized to a 4-week digital sleep intervention or waitlist control. Participants completed validated measures, including the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance 8b, Insomnia Severity Index, and Brief Resilience Scale, at baseline and 4 weeks. Engagement, satisfaction, and qualitative feedback were also collected. Completion was high (97.5%). The intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in sleep disturbance (d = 1.44; P < .001) and insomnia severity (d = 1.55; P < .001) than controls. Resilience scores improved modestly in the intervention group but weren't statistically significant (d = 0.4; P = .15). Participants reported favorable satisfaction (mean = 3.51/5) and found the app easy to use. This pilot study supports the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a digital circadian-based intervention to improve sleep among nurse leaders. Although effects on resilience weren't significant, trends suggest potential benefit and warrant further study in larger, longer-term trials.

Care Variation Reduction (CVR) is a system-level strategy that minimizes unwarranted differences in patient care to strengthen safety, reliability, and quality. Although often unfamiliar as a formal term in nursing, CVR aligns closely with evidence-based practice, standard work, and practice-based evidence-frameworks already foundational to nursing leadership. This article highlights nurse leaders' pivotal role in translating these frameworks into consistent practice, reducing inefficiencies, and supporting interprofessional alignment. Through standardized workflows, protocols, and data-driven decision-making, nurse leaders can advance high-value care, improve patient outcomes, enhance staff engagement, and reinforce organizational priorities, including Magnet® and Pathway to Excellence® standards.

Hospital-based nurse leaders manage complex operational, staffing, and organizational demands that influence well-being and job satisfaction. Hybrid work models, adopted widely during the COVID-19 pandemic, may offer needed flexibility, though little is known about their impact on nurse leaders. To explore nurse leaders' experiences with hybrid work schedules and examine perceived effects on job satisfaction, work-life balance, communication, and unit-level performance outcomes. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with seven nurse leaders at a Level 1 safety-net hospital. Individual interviews were recorded and transcribed, followed by inductive content analysis. A five-item job satisfaction survey was administered, and unit-level nurse-sensitive indicators were reviewed for performance trends. Three themes emerged: 1) leadership style unchanged, with hybrid work enhancing focus and reducing distractions; 2) the need for rules of hybrid engagement to support communication, visibility, and collaboration; and 3) improved work-life balance, with participants emphasizing that removing hybrid options could affect retention. Job satisfaction was high, and performance indicators showed mixed trends without evidence of decline attributable to hybrid work. Hybrid scheduling supported flexibility, productivity, and satisfaction among nurse leaders without compromising unit-level performance. Clear expectations and communication can optimize hybrid leadership models and contribute to leadership sustainability.