Advanced clinical practitioners' untapped potential to become managers.

Abstract

Background: Leadership and management is one of the four pillars of advanced practice, which implies that advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) would be well positioned to take on these roles.

Aim: This study aimed to explore whether ACPs' management responsibilities would support their transition into a clinical management role.

Method: This mixed-method narrative literature review uses reflective thematic analysis and a deductive approach to generate themes based on the six critical tasks of a manager mapped to the four pillars of advanced clinical practice. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess research quality.

Findings: Eleven articles of varying quality were identified. Research suggests that, although ACPs can demonstrate they already have the skills to fulfil management roles, there is limited evidence that they take on these positions.

Conclusion: ACPs have the clinical background and training to transition into management roles more easily than staff without these prerequisites. Nevertheless, there remains insufficient evidence that this is happening in practice. By promoting and encouraging this role transition, ACPs could use their breadth of skills to become future managers.