NSG 6620 CNO role with medical staff and collaboration
Define the chief nursing officer's role in relation to medical staff, define interprofessional collaboration, explain what disagreements between medical and nursing staff do to patient outcomes, and propose one strategy for clarifying expectations across the team.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 13, 2026
Four questions, graded separately
The evaluation criteria repeat the four questions almost word for word, which makes the structure of a strong post obvious and makes omissions expensive. The first question asks for the CNO's role specifically in relation to medical staff, not a general description of the post. That relationship is a particular one: the CNO leads nursing but does not employ or supervise physicians, so influence runs through shared governance, joint quality committees, credentialing and privileging processes, and co-signed policy rather than through line authority. Saying that clearly is what distinguishes an answer about the CNO from an answer about senior nurses. The second question wants interprofessional collaboration defined as a concept, and the established definitions turn on shared goals, mutual respect for distinct expertise, and negotiated decision-making rather than on people simply working near each other. Cite the framework you take the definition from; the criteria ask you to justify answers with research, and a definition should carry a source.
The third question asks what disagreements do to patient outcomes and quality, and this is where evidence should appear rather than assertion. Communication failure is one of the most consistently identified contributors to serious safety events, and the mechanism is worth naming: information that one discipline holds does not reach the person making the decision, escalation stalls, and delay itself becomes the harm. The fourth question asks for one strategy you would apply as a CNO to clarify expectations, and one well-specified strategy beats a list. Say what the strategy is, where in the workflow it sits, who is accountable, and how you would know it had worked. The post also requires responses to at least two peers, which the criteria score separately. Treat those replies as short arguments rather than agreement: extending a peer's strategy, naming a condition under which it would fail, or supplying evidence they did not have all read as substantive, while a paragraph of praise does not.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe the CNO's influence on medical staff as governance rather than line authority.
- 02Define interprofessional collaboration against an established competency framework.
- 03Explain the mechanism linking communication failure to patient harm.
- 04Specify a single accountability strategy with a stated measure of success.
- 05Support leadership claims with research rather than personal assertion.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source NSG 6620 Week 1 Assignment 2 DQ 2 . One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A definition and description of the CNO's role in relation to medical staff.
- 02A definition of interprofessional collaboration.
- 03An explanation of the effect of medical and nursing disagreements on outcomes and quality.
- 04At least one strategy for clarifying expectations of other healthcare team members.
- 05Justification from appropriate research, and responses to at least two peers.
Role, concept, consequence, strategy
The CNO in relation to medical staff
Influence through governance, committees, credentialing and joint policy rather than supervision.
Interprofessional collaboration defined
Shared goals, respect for distinct expertise, negotiated decision-making, cited to a framework.
What disagreement does to outcomes
Information failing to reach the decision-maker, escalation stalling, delay becoming harm.
One strategy for clarifying expectations
A specific intervention with its workflow position, accountable owner and success measure.
Peer engagement
Substantive responses to at least two classmates, as the criteria require.
Competency frameworks and outcome evidence
Recommended databases
- Interprofessional Education Collaborative
- World Health Organization
- American Organization for Nursing Leadership
- The Joint Commission
- AHRQ
- South University Online Library
Search sequence
- 1.Read the IPEC core competencies and take the definition of collaborative practice from there.
- 2.Read the WHO framework for action on interprofessional education for the international framing.
- 3.Check AONL nurse leader competencies for what is expected of an executive nurse specifically.
- 4.Look up Joint Commission material on communication as a contributor to sentinel events.
- 5.Review TeamSTEPPS for a concrete, evaluable strategy to clarify expectations.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
IPEC Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Interprofessional Education Collaborative · 2023
The standard definition and competency domains the collaboration answer should be built on.
- 02
Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice
World Health Organization · 2010
International evidence linking collaborative practice to health system and patient outcomes.
- 03
AONL Nurse Leader Core Competencies
American Organization for Nursing Leadership · 2024
What is formally expected of a nurse executive, grounding the CNO role description.
- 04
Sentinel Event Policy
The Joint Commission · 2025
Evidence on communication failure as a contributor to serious safety events.
- 05
TeamSTEPPS 3.0
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024
A concrete, evaluated strategy for clarifying expectations across disciplines.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Describing the CNO generally without addressing the relationship with medical staff.
- Defining collaboration as people from different professions working in the same place.
- Asserting that disagreements harm outcomes without naming the mechanism or citing evidence.
- Offering a list of strategies instead of one specified strategy with an owner and a measure.
- Omitting the two peer responses, which the evaluation criteria score.
- Confusing interprofessional collaboration with delegation or with chain of command.
Submission checklist
- All four questions are answered in order and none is merged into another.
- The CNO's influence route over medical staff is stated explicitly.
- The collaboration definition matches a recognised framework and is cited.
- The outcome claim is supported by research, not assertion.
- One strategy is specified with its place in the workflow, its owner and its measure.
- Responses to at least two peers are posted.
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Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.