Understanding the Nurse Champion Concept and the Training Initiatives for Nurse Champions: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Abstract Background There is current evidence that a proportion of health care services provided to patients do not align with best evidence. A nurse champion, defined as a nurse who either volunteers or is identified by the management to facilitate or promote the implementation of an innovation (eg, new knowledge or practice), is an important factor for implementation success. The existing literature describes health care champions’ attributes, roles, and behaviors, the processes in which they might enable change, and their effectiveness at facilitating implementation. However, a more detailed exploration of the nurse champion concept is needed. Further, despite the prolific use of nurse champions in health care implementation, there is a gap in the literature pertaining to what nurse champion training initiatives exist, what competencies are important to be a nurse champion, and whether current training initiatives are effective in preparing nurse champions. Finally, the extent to which equity, diversity, and inclusion are considered in the nurse champion literature is unknown. Objective This study aims to (1) develop a preliminary conceptual understanding of nurse champions, (2) describe the characteristics of existing champion training initiatives in health care that prepare nurse champions and synthesize the competencies that are covered in these champion training initiatives, (3) synthesize the findings of studies that examined the effectiveness of nurse champion training initiatives in preparing nurses to be effective champions, and (4) evaluate the extent to which equity, diversity, and inclusion are considered in studies that define nurse champions and in studies describing or evaluating nurse champion training initiatives attended by nurse champions. Methods This series of linked reviews will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology. We will systematically search 8 electronic databases using a Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies. We will also search for gray literature (eg, theses and dissertations). We will upload the records from our database searches into Covidence. Two individuals from the research team will perform title and abstract and full-text screening independently and in duplicate using a piloted inclusion and exclusion criteria. Two individuals will perform data extraction and quality appraisal independently and in duplicate. Conflicts will be resolved with consensus. We will perform various forms of content analysis to address our varying research questions and objectives. Results As of January 2026, we have completed more than half of our title and abstract screening. We expect to present the results in a scoping review later in 2026. Conclusions The results of this research will provide recommendations for current and future nurse champion training initiatives. Although this review is limited to the nursing discipline, the results may be transferable to understanding champions in other contexts.