A staff support mechanism: the transformational partnership

There have been many changes in nursing over the past decade, e.g. the movement of nursing education into higher educational sectors and the generation of many new nursing roles. The development of senior roles within nursing could potentially lead to isolation and, consequently, there may be calls for complementary support mechanisms. A transformational partnership is advocated, whereby nurses working in different organizations/specialties can provide mutual support. Existing support mechanisms for senior nursing can be variable and a transformational partnership can complement these as well as providing mutual clinical support. There are many advantages to this form of partnership which include professional and personal development as well as time out to reflect on practice. It requires commitment to the validity of the concept of professional support across traditional boundaries. A framework based on Holt's (1994) change theory is suggested as a method of implementing this initiative more widely within neighbouring organizations.