When industry courts your clinical research skills, should you collaborate?

Hospital/industry collaboration is as yet rare in Canadian nursing research. Dupont Canada Inc. invited this research team to become one of four sites taking part in a study of decubitus ulcers in intensive care unit patients. The project was regarded as an opportunity to study an important nursing problem. Collaboration involved a multicenter meeting to plan the research with personnel from the four sites and data collection on the incidence of pressure sores in intensive care unit patients. Industry contributed funding for the project, work on the overall research design, coordination of the sites, and data analysis. The hospitals contributed clinical knowledge, access to the patients, and skilled nurses to collect skin care data. The authors have gained from the collaboration, as has industry. In this article, we review the process, problems, and benefits of collaboration with industry and provide recommendations for nurses getting involved in hospital/industry collaborative research.