Evaluation of the Penn Macy initiative to advance academic nursing practice

In the realm of academic practice, schools of nursing, especially those in research-intensive environments, face a dilemma. These schools are in the best position to shape nursing science through research based in academic practice. Yet they also face formidable challenges to maintaining balance among the three legs of the tripartite mission. The questions of whether and how to commit resources to move forward their academic practice agendas are not answered easily. The Penn Macy Initiative to Advance Academic Nursing Practice aimed to assist such schools in their development of academic practices through a week-long intensive institute and 1 year of consultation and follow-up. An evaluation of the outcomes of that experience for 21 participant schools together with the baseline characteristics that appeared, retrospectively, to be associated with success are presented and discussed.