Evaluation of an academic service partnership using a strategic alliance framework

Strategic alliances involve the sharing of resources to achieve mutually relevant benefits and they are flexible ways to access resources outside of one's own institution. The recent landmark report from the Institute of Medicine, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, called for academic and health care organizations to strategically align around the future registered nurse workforce to improve the quality and safety of patient care. The dedicated education unit (DEU) is one practical way for 2 entities to align so that students can learn to administer safe, quality care. Because DEUs have great potential, it is critical to evaluate the alignment between the academic and service partner for appropriate fit, mutual benefit, and long-term success. In this article, we analyze the effectiveness of the Saint Louis University School of Nursing (SLUSON) and Mercy Hospital, St. Louis (MHSL) DEU project, an alliance between a medical center and school of nursing, using the Single Alliance Key Success Model.     

The academic nursing practice dean: an emerging role

This article describes the contributions of academic nursing practice to nursing education; delineates the role characteristics and competencies needed by academic practice deans; and provides examples of the challenges and issues academic practice deans face related to nursing education, research, and practice. While schools' missions vary from a strong focus on education to multiple emphases on education, research, and practice, academic nursing practice has the potential to facilitate achievement in each of these areas. Academic nursing practice deans play important roles in advancing the missions of their schools through the clinical practice activities within the schools. Strong academic nursing practice programs can serve as catalysts for the development and refinement of new models of care delivery and for the development of future nursing leaders who are comfortable with innovation.     

Collaboration not competition: a model for nursing continuing education

It can be stated that Nursing Staff Development and the Continuing Nursing Educational Department of a university can collaboratively produce effective continuing education for nurses. Their similarities, differences, and duplications can be utilized constructively rather than in a competitive manner. To accomplish this, the two departments could collaborate through a joint committee that has equal representation, equal respect and an equal workload from both departments. The joint committee can reduce the cost and effort of providing continuing education and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of meeting the educational needs of the nursing community.     

Defining the professional responsibilities of academic nurse educators: The results of a national practice analysis

In February 2005, the National League for Nursing's Academic Nurse Educator Certification Program and its testing service partner, Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. (AMP), conducted a study designed to determine the professional practice responsibilities of academic nurse educators. The results of this national practice analysis, reported here, provided the initial information required to ensure the development of a practice-related, content-valid certification examination for academic nurse educators.     

The rotating hospitalist: a solution for an academic internal medicine practice

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been raised about the role that hospitalists may have in changing the educational process for medical students and residents, especially with regard to the primary care specialties. METHODS: We implemented rotating hospital and office duties within our five-physician group. RESULTS: Resident and student satisfaction increased, and additional faculty members could be added without expanding office space. Financial benefits then also ensued. CONCLUSION: Rotating hospital with office duties among a small group of internists has resulted in most of the advantages with few of the drawbacks related to the hospitalist approach.     

Physical activity intervention in an academic setting: focus group results.

The purpose of this study was to elicit beliefs and attitudes about increasing physical activity in the workplace among staff and faculty in an academic setting as the first phase of a three-phase pilot study. Focus groups were conducted using the Theory of Planned Behavior as the basis for exploratory questions regarding workplace physical activity. The responses were tallied and themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. The primary themes indicated that physical activity at work would be beneficial because it could allow for more free time at home. However, it would not be advantageous if it took time away from work or conflicted with supervisors' needs. Differences in the likelihood of participation in a physical activity program were noted between staff and faculty. It was clear that successful design and implementation of the program needed the support of all employees in the school.     

Collaborative synergy: practice and academic partnerships in evidence-based practice

In this department, Dr Newhouse highlights hot topics in nursing outcomes, research, and evidence-based practice relevant to the nurse administrator. The goal is to discuss the practical implications for nurse leaders in diverse healthcare settings. Content includes evidence-based projects and decision making, locating measurement tools for quality improvement and safety projects, using outcome measures to evaluate quality, practice implications of administrative research, and exemplars of projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to organizational problems. This column describes potential collaborations in evidence-based practice between clinical settings and colleges or universities.     

A win-win model for an academic nursing center: community partnership faculty practice

A number of schools of nursing have established community nursing centers to provide faculty practice sites, student learning experiences, and a service to the community, most often to a poor underserved population. The current literature concludes that these centers provide a quality clinical service and improve access to health care, and they also provide an avenue for research, training, and faculty practice. Acquiring necessary financial support and the ability to achieve financial independence appear to be the most common difficulties for these centers. Most of the current literature includes an examination of issues relating to funding. The model presented in this article focuses on organizational variables that include both the center and its placement in relationship to other functions and programs in the school and a broadening of the meaning of fiscal responsibility to include an awareness of the broad spectrum of benefits that the community nursing center brings to the entire school. Efforts to coordinate and integrate the needs and functions of several groups are described. Establishing goals and priorities that simultaneously meet the needs of all or most of these groups has been an important outcome. The activities of the center have become an integral part of the everyday life of the school. Achieving financial independence and being fiscally aware and responsible is not the same thing.     

Collaboration and team science: from theory to practice

Interdisciplinary efforts are becoming more critical for scientific discovery and translational research efforts. Highly integrated and interactive research teams share a number of features that contribute to their success in developing and sustaining their efforts over time. Through analysis of in-depth interviews with members of highly successful research teams and others who did not meet their goals or ended because of conflicts, we identified key elements that are critical for team success and effectiveness. There is no debate that the scientific goal sits at the center of the collaborative effort. However, supporting features need to be in place to avoid the derailment of the team. Among the most important of these is trust: without trust, the team dynamic runs the risk of deteriorating over time. Other critical factors of which both leaders and participants need to be aware include developing a shared vision, strategically identifying team members and purposefully building the team, promoting disagreement while containing conflict, and setting clear expectations for sharing credit and authorship. Self-awareness and strong communication skills contribute greatly to effective leadership and management strategies of scientific teams. While all successful teams share the characteristic of effectively carrying out these activities, there is no single formula for execution with every leader exemplifying different strengths and weaknesses. Successful scientific collaborations have strong leaders who are self-aware and are mindful of the many elements critical for supporting the science at the center of the effort.     

The classification of specialist student practice: results of an exploratory study

An exploratory study investigating the feasibility and acceptability of an assessment tool designed to allow practice educators(1)to classify Specialist Practitioner student practice, identifies issues of interest to all educators involved with practice assessment.Within 3 months of commencing education leading to Specialist Practitioner Awards, the spread of marks awarded for practice achievements was already consistent with final degree classification and within 6 months slightly higher than normal. By the end of the course, continued improvements in practice achievements resulted in 73% of practice marks being 70% and over. The implications for total degree classification are less catastrophic than they appear; even if this trend continues there will only be a slight increase in first class Honours degrees.Although the strategy for practice assessment includes practice educators and students working together to discuss and agree marks for practice achievements, in the study practice educators and students provided marks intentionally without discussion or consultation with each other. Two comparisons of these marks showed that many students overestimate or underestimate their practice achievements as perceived by practice educators. Continuous monitoring of how marks are determined will be a priority for the Specialist Practice team. In most cases, practice educators considered the marked assessment of practice to be a reasonable working proposition, though there were concerns about the timing of assessments and the applied terminology.The main conclusions are that some practice educators may award marks for effort, despite contradictory written comments, and that the ability of specialist students to self-assess remains an unknown quantity but a potential moderating influence. The role of the HEI will be to ensure essential preparation and ongoing support for practice educators to enable a tri-partite assessment process and to provide a robust strategy for internal and external moderation.The marked assessment of practice was implemented in September 2000; to date progress has been remarkably unproblematic with practice educators and students accepting the process with relative ease and much enthusiasm.     

Cancer-related fatigue: clinical practice versus practice guidelines

Purpose  

This study investigated adherence to treatment guidelines on cancer-related anaemia and fatigue (CRA/CRF) and factors influencing the choice of intervention.     

Effect of an academic group practice on patient show rates: a randomized controlled trial

Ambulatory medical clinics at academic centers are reputed to be expensive, inefficient, and poorly regarded by the medical residents who staff them. In an effort to address these problems, some centers have reorganized their traditional clinics into group practices. These group practices are thought to be more effective for teaching and providing services than are the traditional clinics. This is a report on the results of a study in which the authors reorganized two of four firm clinics into group practices in order to test the influence of the organizational changes on the various aspects of ambulatory care. During this controlled prospective trial of the group practice model, higher show rates were observed for patients in the group practices than in the traditional clinics (70% vs 65%, P less than 0.0005). The possible reasons for the higher rates are discussed.