title: Clinical ladders: do they serve their purpose?
abstract: Clinical ladders may benefit the needs of hospitals and occasionally the needs of individual nurses, but do they meet our professional need to recognize clinical excellence in nursing? Analysis of this issue and its impact on nursing is presented through review of pertinent literature. Conceptual and structural frameworks currently used in clinical ladder programs are discussed. The author then presents a promotional model more appropriate to the needs of nurses and nursing.
mesh_terms: D002322:Career Mobility; D002983:Clinical Competence; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*