%0 Journal Article
%T Academic-Service Partnerships in Nursing: An Integrative Review
%A Judy A. Beal
%J Nursing Research and Practice
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/501564
%X This integrative review summarizes currently available evidence on academic-service partnerships in the profession of nursing. More than 300 articles, published primarily in refereed journals, were accessed. Articles (110) were included in this review as they presented detailed and substantive information about any aspect of a nursing academic-service partnership. The majority were anecdotal in nature. Topics clustered around the following categories: pre-requisites for successful partnerships, benefits of partnerships, types of partnerships, and workforce development with its themes of academic-practice progression and educational re-design. Many examples of partnerships between academic and service settings were thoroughly described and best practices suggested, most often, however, without formal evaluation of outcomes. Nursing leaders in both settings have a long tradition of partnering with very little replicable evidence to support their efforts. It is critical that future initiatives evaluate the effectiveness of these partnerships, not only to ensure quality of patient outcomes but also to maximize efforts at building capacity for tomorrow's workforce. 1. Introduction In November 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its highly anticipated Report on the Future of Nursing [1]. This report called for major initiatives to redesign both nursing education and practice to better prepare nurses to lead during health care reform and beyond. In particular, the report outlined the need for increasing baccalaureate prepared nurses to 80% of the workforce, doubling the number of doctorally prepared faculty, removing scope of practice barriers, and disseminating successful collaborative improvement initiatives. Additionally, it recommended implementing nurse residency programs, ensuring that all nurses engage in lifelong learning, preparing and enabling nurses to lead change to advance health, and building an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of interprofessional health care workforce data [1]. It is clear that if we are to achieve these goals, academic and practice leaders must work together. Nurse leaders from both academic and service settings have a long history of collaborating [2¨C4], but now must do so more effectively and with greater sense of urgency than ever before [5]. A partnership is defined as an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests [6]. In the profession of nursing, academic-service partnerships are most often defined as strategic relationships between educational and clinical
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2012/501564/