Academic-Practice Partnerships (APPs) are formal relationships between academic institutions and healthcare organizations that can improve healthcare delivery by preparing practice-ready nurses who transition readily into the workforce (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2012). APPs can create bridges of understanding between healthcare organizations and academic institutions by promoting knowledge sharing and practice knowledge development. Through APPs, healthcare organizations and academic partners define mutually beneficial goals and align their efforts to achieve these goals (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2012). APPs offer opportunities to strengthen practice readiness among graduates through academic experiences immersed in the practice setting. In addition, partners commit to shared responsibility for preparing and enabling nurses to lead change and advance health (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2012). The purpose of this article is to outline the intentional process used to form a new APP between a healthcare organization in a rural setting with a medium sized Midwestern university, with a focus to enhance leadership experiences for prelicensure students and make the meaningful work and impact of the practice partner nurse leaders visible in the practice setting. The APP was developed, and the first leadership immersion experiences were launched with students and nurse leaders within the APP.

The purpose of this article is to describe the intentional process used to create a new APP between a healthcare organization in a rural setting with a medium sized Midwestern university to enhance leadership skills for prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing students from the academic partner setting and make the meaningful work of nurse leaders visible to students in the practice partner setting. The overall goal of the APP is to advance nursing knowledge that improves and supports the health of individuals, their families, and their rural communities The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) Guiding Principles (American Association of Colleges of Nursing and American Organization for Nursing Leadership, 2012) were used as a framework for developing processes. Exemplars of these processes will be provided. An intentional nine-stage design was used to guide processes within the developing APP. Progression through the nine stages used by the APP to develop capacity for nursing leadership in rural healthcare are described and exemplars within the stages are presented.

The future and relevance of nurses in health care depends upon development of nurses as leaders proficient in the healthcare arena in roles of advocacy for patients, families, communities and the nursing profession across health care settings and within society (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021). Developing capacity for leadership begins within prelicensure programs and includes opportunities to learn and test leadership principles and theories, formulate and modify leadership style and behaviors guided by self-reflection, demonstrate self-efficacy and behaviors of nurse as leader, use appropriate resources amidst uncertainty, demonstrate self-awareness of implicit biases and their relationship to culture and environment, and recognize the importance of nursing's contributions as leaders in practice change and policy issues (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2021).

One way to support development of leadership skills to lead practice change among prelicensure students is to provide learning experiences immersed in real-world clinical practice with its inherent daily changes. In this way, students form a grounded healthcare leadership lens and a professional approach to nursing that considers ongoing evaluation of practice as essential and redesign of practice environments necessary for improving health outcomes. Developing these types of immersive change leadership experiences requires intentional planning between academic and practice partners.