Innovation Through Partnership: Building Leadership Capacity in Academe and Practice

Abstract

VISION AND MISSION The Indiana University Nurse Learning Partnership (IUNLP) was initially conceived 5 years ago and consists of leaders from the Indiana University School of Nursing, a National League for Nursing Center for Excellence in Nursing Education, and the Department of Nursing at the Indiana University Health (IUH) Academic Health Center (AHC), made up of 3 Magnet-designated hospitals. The formal partnership, led by Dean Marion E. Broome and Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive Linda Q. Everett, began in 2009 when leaders in both settings recognized that although individual collaborations were occurring in both arenas, there was no formalized, intentional structure at the leadership level to bring resources to bear and create a synergistic environment for students, nurses, and nurse leaders at the school and hospital system. Inspired by the Carnegie Report1 on transforming nursing education, leaders from both settings met for a retreat in summer 2010, where the IUNLP model was formalized to better communicate intentions to all constituencies (Figure 1). The mission of this intentional academic–practice partnership is to demonstrate the value nursing brings to improving the health of the community. At the heart of this initiative lies a shared culture where practice and academic partners share a