Developing prospective managers. Part 1. A unique project.

This is the first in a series of three articles that describes a project to determine how feasible and effective it would be to train selected nurses as managers before actual appointment. This management trainee program is unique in that participants were specifically limited to BSN graduates with a maximum 1 year of clinical experience. Participants also were expected to complete an individualized competency-based development program, not a traditional course. The first article describes development of the project at Stanford University Medical Center. Subsequent articles will describe the evaluation, assessment, and learning methods used; the problems of candidate selection; and participant experiences and program results.