Nurse–physician dual leadership in hospital settings: from conceptual clarification to sustainable implementation
Duration
2026-2030
Description
Hospitals face complex challenges related to the quality and safety of care, workforce management, innovation, and organisational development. Although medical and nursing expertise are inextricably linked, leadership has traditionally been organised along separate professional lines. Nurse-physician dual leadership (NPDL) offers an alternative: a physician and a nurse leader form a formal and equal leadership dyad. Drawing on their complementary expertise, they share responsibility, make decisions jointly, and provide direction to the organisation or department as a unified leadership team.
Despite growing interest in this leadership model, there is still insufficient scientific evidence regarding how NPDL functions in practice, which conditions are critical to its success, and which outcomes are associated with it. This doctoral research aims to address these knowledge gaps and bridge the divide between scientific evidence and everyday hospital practice.
An initial, now published, concept analysis identified the defining attributes of nurse-physician dual leadership, the organisational and relational antecedents preceding its emergence, and its potential consequences. Building on these findings, a qualitative, multiperspective study is being conducted in Flemish hospitals. Through interviews and focus groups, the experiences and perspectives of medical and nursing leaders, healthcare professionals, and management representatives are explored. Particular attention is paid to shared decision-making, the distribution of roles and responsibilities, interprofessional collaboration, and the organisational and relational factors that facilitate or hinder the functioning of leadership dyads.
In subsequent research phases, these insights will inform the development and validation of a scientifically grounded assessment instrument. Furthermore, the study will examine how NPDL is associated with relevant outcomes at the individual leader, team, and organisational levels.
The ultimate aim is to develop and test in practice a flexible, evidence-based implementation framework accompanied by a practical toolkit. This will provide hospitals with actionable guidance to purposefully establish NPDL, support leadership dyads, and sustainably embed their collaboration within the organisation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supervisors
Erik Franck
Filip Haegdorens
Doctoral researcher
Ines Vercalsteren
Funding
No external funding