Building communities of practice: the research nurse round table

This paper shares the experience of establishing a research nurse forum aimed at knowledge sharing, problem solving, and community building from the perspective of a group of clinical research nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a tertiary care center in Boston, -Massachusetts. We report on a sequence of developmental steps taken to create this forum as an example of best practice for research nurses. Logistical considerations, mission and goals, as well as outcomes and implications for practice are described, with the intent that others interested in building similar forums can replicate aspects of this model within their own practice settings.