About ICLN

The Integrated Care Leadership Network (ICLN) started as a grassroots nursing organization in 2007, originally called the Regional Nurse Network (informally known as RN²). Within four years RN² grew to nearly 6,500 hundred members, who attended a variety of informal educational and community events, all focused on re-energizing nurses and helping them build skills for professional growth.

As the program grew, it became clear that the nursing profession needed a more expanded venue for developing leadership skills, but still built through grassroots participation, in community setting. It was equally clear that leadership training was needed in many areas of healthcare, not just nursing. And so the ICLN was born--open to all practitioners of all levels.

Both RN² and ICLN were founded by Julie Kliger, BSN, MPA, with grant funding from The Moore Foundation. This work, which was started at University of California San Francisco’s Center for Health Professions, used leadership training to drive evidenced-based quality improvement (QI), and forms the foundation of the ICLN approach. The work initially focused on improving medication safety, but was expanded to include reducing sepsis mortality. Finally, it grew to focus broadly on leadership practices in healthcare, primarily in nursing.

The leadership and QI programs at Bay Area hospitals reduced medication process errors by more than 88%, and reduced sepsis mortality by 51%. From this work, Julie developed and sharpened a leadership curriculum based on the principles that had proven so successful in the field—five core competencies of strong leaders, as well as specific strategies and tools for managing organizational change.

The Integrated Care Leadership Network was created to blend the grassroots community model of RN², with the rigorous educational practices of a true professional development program. It’s a place where clinicians can learn and grow in an informal setting, but using some of the best, most cutting-edge evidenced-based practices, anywhere in the healthcare industry.