Georgia Southern University Professor Honored With 2011 Book of the Year Award by American Journal of Nursing

January 19, 2012

Georgia Southern University Professor of Nursing Elaine Marshall’s book, Transformational Leadership in Nursing, was recognized by the American Journal of Nursing as one of two 2011 Books of the Year in the area of Leadership and Management in nursing.

The book stresses the importance of adopting interdisciplinary viewpoints that include physicians and other healthcare providers, business leaders, economists and patients in order to contribute to effective healthcare. The work also features a chapter on economics and finance written by Professor Brenda Talley, a former Georgia Southern faculty member. One of four books authored by Marshall, Transformational Leadership in Nursing took a year to complete after an invitation from Springer Publishing Company.

The book is dedicated to the first Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) class taught by Marshall at Georgia Southern, and has been added to curricula of nursing programs nationwide.

“It’s been fun to hear from people around the country who are using it in other DNP programs,” said Marshall. “For example, in December (of 2011), I was asked to speak at an Honors Society induction ceremony at Mercer University in Atlanta. Two or three students came forward with their copies of the book to have them autographed, so that was fun.”

After Marshall came to Georgia Southern University in 2007 as the first Endowed Chair, School of Nursing, she was assigned to teach a leadership course for the newly-launched DNP program. She collected numerous articles for the curriculum and it didn’t take long before she realized a need for a comprehensive text on the subject matter.

“I realized that the students who come in the Georgia Southern doctoral program are expert clinicians, and they’ve been prepared to be highly competent in clinical practice,” said Marshall, former Dean of the Brigham Young University College of Nursing. “But they aren’t necessarily prepared to be leaders in complex healthcare organizations. Advance practice nurses are very good at caring for patients, but they aren’t always at the table in the highest levels of leadership in health care. I couldn’t find a text that was appropriate to that group. Nurses need to enhance their own characteristics, habits, desires, and how they function as individuals in a healthcare environment. They need to see themselves as leaders in a complex environment.”