Promoting a culture of international professional practice for nursing through a twinning relationship

This article illustrates the impact of a twinning relationship between the nursing services of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University (HH), in Shanghai, China, and of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, Massachusetts. Through twinning, the healthcare leaders and nursing staff at HH learned key concepts, skills, and methods from their MGH colleagues, enhancing the role, presence, and overall impact of nursing in their organization. Strategies to advance a nursing leadership development agenda included establishing twinning relationships and immersing nurse leaders into each other's practice arena via nurse visitation exchanges. This collaborative effort, although only 3 years old, begins the process of modeling twinning for replication among nurses and across organizations internationally. Improvements in nursing care delivery and patient care at both organizations are attributed to this project.