Collaborative learning: a focused partnership

This paper describes a collaborative project that joins academic perspectives and clinical practice perspectives in a focused clinical experience. This activity involves 3rd quarter associate degree nursing students in a medical-surgical course. Instructors identified the need to provide an activity to develop intravenous therapy skills and provide increased opportunities, thus increasing technical skill and assessment skills. This led to the development of the focused clinical experience. During this clinical rotation, the students rotate through either a Same Day Surgery unit or an endoscopy unit for one of their clinical days. The primary objective of this clinical day is to provide intravenous therapy. The duration of this project was a 10-week quarter of the curriculum and involved 38 students in the 2002 class and 30 in the 2003 class. Results indicate a very positive learning experience for the student, as well as a collaborative and contributing effort by the students for the staff. The staff, on the other hand, assists in providing a mentoring role in shared expertise. Collaborative partnerships between academia and practice can help bridge the gap by providing opportunities to share perceptions, creating an environment for shared knowledge, and networking opportunities, leading to further enabling preparation for potentially future staff.