This tool will serve as a guide for you and your nominators as you are reflecting on your leadership and professional contributions to date. We hope it will help you determine whether your Fellowship application would be competitive at this point in your career.
This tool will help you document your contributions to leadership (in clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration) and determine what demonstrable evidence exists for your impact on nursing, health or health care. Clarifying your thoughts in this regard will allow you to assess your readiness and focus your submission.
We encourage you to share this self-assessment with those you are asking to serve as your nominators. Your two nominators (one of whom is ideally a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing), will be able to support you in this process.*
The Canadian Academy of Nursing exists to support and celebrate nursing leadership across all regulated categories and domains of practice. Fellowship represents the highest honour for Canada’s most accomplished nursing leaders.
Before you begin, please start by reviewing the Canadian Academy of Nursing’s Fellowship criteria:
- Demonstration of outstanding individual professional and leadership contributions in nursing (clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration), with impact on improvement of nursing, health or health care at the international, national, provincial/territorial, and/or regional/local levels
- Evidence that these contributions have been translated into clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration in a meaningful way
- Formal recognition for these contributions (e.g., substantive and prestigious honours, appointments, or awards)
- Evidence of leadership in activities that have had an impact on nursing, health or health care (e.g., research, innovations or developments in clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration)
- Confirmed premium membership in the Canadian Nurses Association, which includes membership in the Canadian Academy of Nursing, and the applicant’s provincial/territorial nursing professional association
Examples of evidence (see criteria 2 & 4) include but are not limited to documentation of the following:
- Consistent and outstanding contributions demonstrated throughout a career to nursing, health or health-care priorities.
- Leadership or professional contributions that have significant, measurable and sustained impact.
- Important and distinctive contributions to professional events, conferences (national, international), committees, boards, etc.
- Evidence that your research findings and/or innovations have been adopted in ways that lead to changes in clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration
Jot down ideas as to how you might build your case to meet the Fellowship criteria.
- What aspects of your professional experience have demonstrated significant impact on clinical practice, policy, education, research and/or administration at the international, national, provincial/territorial, and/or regional/local levels? Be specific about the individual role you have played.
- What outcomes illustrate the impact of these activities (e.g., changes to provincial/territorial regulation, adoption of or changes to regional, local, provincial/territorial, national, or international standards)?
- Have any of these outcomes been sustained over time? (If not, why not?)
- What indicators illustrate what you personally contributed to the achievement of these outcomes?
- You might also reflect on your current leadership involvement in organizations or structures outside of your current position. How has your involvement in these activities contributed to the development of nursing, health or health care?
- Finally, as you reflect on your own accomplishments, identify at least two ways in which you might use your particular skills and expertise to advance the mission and vision of the Canadian Academy of Nursing by participating in the work of supporting nursing leadership in Canada.
*Note: For candidates who do not have close working access to colleagues who are Fellows, we will accept nominations from other accomplished nurses who would be recognized as senior nursing leaders with equivalent demonstrable leadership experience, or from Fellows working with such leaders to prepare nominations. For these nominations, please append a brief bio of the supporting nominator(s).