The short tenure of nurse managers is an urgent aspect of the leadership vacuum within the nursing shortage. The authors, who sought to build a model of nurse manager engagement in contrast to a retention model, continue to report data from a national qualitative study funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of 30 outstanding and longtime nurse managers in 6 settings. Part 1 (March 2008) described the dimensions and applications of individual engagement. In this article (part 2), the authors describe the organizational factors that contribute to engagement for nurse managers and the applications for building cultures of engagement.

The variety of data collection methods suggests both distinct choices in creating future evaluation templates for the fellowship and approaches that might be adapted by other organizations.

The short tenure of nurse managers suggests the urgent need for a new model to understand and build engagement that translates into longevity and excellence in nurse managers. The authors report data from a national qualitative study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, of 30 outstanding long-time nurse managers in 6 settings and offer patterns of individual and cultural elements linked to engagement. Part 1 describes the dimensions of individual engagement along with the implications for developing and sustaining nurse managers. In Part 2, which will be available in April 2008, the authors will give details on the organizational factors that contribute to engagement of nurse managers and the applications for building cultures of engagement.