Sharing the quest for knowledge through interdisciplinary research

Faced with increasingly complex health care issues and diminishing resources for research, nurse scientists must collaborate with each other and with scientists from other disciplines in the search for innovative and cost-effective health care solutions. The article traces nursing's 20-year struggle to become a credible partner in interdisciplinary research and highlights advantages and challenges characteristic of such collaboration. The authors describe their respective experiences as members of interdisciplinary research teams, one in a private medical practice affiliated with a for-profit hospital and the other in an academic setting. Recommendations that nurture successful collaborations are proposed.