Common themes in clinical education partnerships

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Workforce Development
• Nursing Education
• Academic-Service Partnerships

Background:

• Concurrent nursing and faculty shortages pose significant challenges to the healthcare system.
• Academic nursing programs face difficulties in enrollment and faculty retention.
• Innovative solutions are needed to expand faculty capacity and address the nursing shortage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore innovative academic-service partnerships in nursing education.
• To identify common features contributing to the successful implementation of these partnerships.
• To provide insights for developing and sustaining models that increase educational capacity.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive study design.
• Site visitations to academic nursing programs and clinical partners in Florida and Texas.
• In-depth knowledge acquisition of clinical education models and partnership dynamics.

Main Results:

• Four common features were identified across successful partnerships: supportive relationships, goodness of fit, flexibility, and communication.
• These features are crucial for planning, implementing, and sustaining innovative programs.
• The study highlights the strengths and challenges encountered in these collaborations.

Conclusions:

• Academic-service partnerships offer a viable solution to expand nursing faculty capacity.
• Focusing on supportive relationships, fit, flexibility, and communication can enhance partnership success.
• These insights can guide efforts to mitigate the nursing shortage through educational innovation.