Academic-practice Partnership Research Articles

Nurses Leading Partnership-Driven Transformation to Address the Nursing Shortage.

For various reasons, including the pandemic's toll, many nurses are preparing to exit their roles or leave the profession entirely. Addressing attrition requires health care systems to develop comprehensive workforce strategies to enhance the nursing pipeline. Health care systems must proactively address challenges through innovative workforce solutions using an academic-practice partnership model while incorporating high schools and post-secondary schools. This column will discuss how nurse leaders in a health care system address attrition through academic-practice partnership models, innovative strategies, and outcomes data. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023:54(2):53-55.].

Academy of Clinical Essentials

A revolutionary academic-practice partnership model was implemented at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) with the University of Maryland School of Nursing, through which the preparation and transition to practice of new graduate nurses were reimagined, resulting in intentional support for staffing the nursing workforce. Groups of nursing students were paired with a UMMS-funded clinical instructor to take a full patient assignment for one 12-hour shift in a UMMS hospital each week. This instructor-led cohort is equivalent to one UMMS nurse and was included in the staffing numbers of participating units.

Excellence in Nursing Preceptorship-to-Hire, part 1.

An academic-practice partnership to recruit and retain nurses.

Community Health Outside the Exam Room: Extracurricular Learning to Augment Nurse Practitioner Student Practice Readiness.

The curricular requirements of nurse practitioner (NP) programs are well established. NP students' clinical practicums provide a context for the extracurricular acquisition of administrative, operational, and systems-focused NP skills. Acquisition of extracurricular NP skills is variable and highly dependent on a student's clinical placements. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this variability by limiting students' access to traditional clinical rotations. With our practice partners, we inventoried the behaviors that are associated with new graduate NP readiness for practice in community health centers. We then developed an extracurricular seminar series to develop these behaviors. Each seminar in the series was presented by a preceptor. Students reported gains in their perceived readiness to practice. The casual format and preceptor presenters were highly valued by students. NP educators should consider leveraging academic-practice partnerships to standardize students' acquisition of administrative, operational, and systems-focused NP competencies.

Commentary: Improving Primary Care Through an Innovative Academic-Practice Partnership Including Baccalaureate Nursing Student-Based Telehealth Competencies.

University of the Incarnate Word Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing, San Antonio, Texas. Correspondence: Lorena Paul, DNP, MEd, GCNE, RN-BC, University of the Incarnate Word Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing, San Antonio, TX 78209 ([email protected]). The authors thank Barrio Comprehensive Family Health Center Inc d/b/a CommuniCare SA, BSN faculty at University of the Incarnate Word, and Jean Dols, PhD. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A Correctional Facility Academic-Practice Partnership: Implementation of a Nurse-Led COVID-19 Initiative.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in one in five individuals incarcerated in U.S. correctional institutions contracting COVID-19 and 1,700 deaths. Correctional adult transition centers house incarcerated individuals who typically do not have on-site health care access. A COVID-19 outbreak could devastate this population, who live in high-density conditions and have been documented as high risk for poor health outcomes. Owing to a robust practice partnership between a college of nursing and two adult transition centers, a nurse-led COVID-19 initiative was implemented to minimize transmission in the facilities and ensure appropriate health care referral for residents who tested positive for COVID-19. The initiative identified six residents with positive results, who were transferred to a state prison infirmary for management and to minimize risk for other residents.

An Innovative Academic-Practice Partnership Using Simulation to Provide End-of-Life Education for Undergraduate Nursing Students in Rural Settings.

Innovations that foster academic-practice partnerships can fill direct clinical care gaps and supplement faculty expertise, particularly in rural settings. An end-of-life simulation was cocreated by nursing faculty and regional certified hospice and palliative care nurses (CHPNs) as a course improvement project for traditional baccalaureate students who lacked direct care experience. Groups of students experienced skills-based pain management and end-of-life conversation-based scenarios using CHPNs as standardized patients. The simulation conformed to current standards in health care simulation, including prebriefing and debriefing components. Feedback from students and CHPNs supports the partnership as an effective teaching/learning strategy.

The Value and Impacts of Academic Public Health Departments.

The academic health department (AHD) is a partnership between an academic institution and a governmental health agency. These partnerships are meant to provide mutual benefits that include opportunities for student field placements and internships, practice-informed curriculum, and practice-based research. The term academic health department dates back only to 2000, although there are several examples of academic-practice partnerships prior to that date. In addition to AHDs that have been established over the past two decades, other forms of academic-practice engagement provide similar mutual benefits, such as prevention research centers and public health training centers. Current research on AHDs explores how these partnerships matter regarding the outputs, outcomes, and impacts of the units that comprise them. This review also considers the most recent perspectives on how AHDs have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and how they might advance public health's efforts to address structural racism and promote health equity.

Using an academic-practice partnership to enhance ambulatory care nursing skills

BackgroundAmbulatory nursing services are essential to healthcare in communities, but nursing curricula often omit ambulatory care training. The purpose of this project was to enhance ambulatory care competencies among nursing students and provide ongoing education for practicing nurses through an academic-practice partnership. MethodsA four-year externally funded project targeted enhancements to undergraduate nursing curricula and development activities. Students received didactic content and clinical experiences and were evaluated to assess critical ambulatory care nursing skills. Existing continuing education offerings were enhanced with team-based practice content. ResultsDespite pandemic-related clinical training changes, data from multiple quarters showed improvement in students' perceptions of self-efficacy (1.7–4.28-point increases) and actual performance (3.46–4.05-point increases) of core competencies on the 20-point evaluation scales. In addition, students rated simulations favorably, with scores ranging from 1.4 to 1.9 on the 2-point subscales. ConclusionAn academic-practice partnership provides mutually beneficial opportunities for enhancing the ambulatory care nursing workforce through undergraduate education and training and professional development for practicing nurses.

Anterior epistaxis.

<h3>Introduction</h3> Academic-practice partnerships are a promising strategy that could strengthen the promotion and innovation of evidence-based nursing practice (EBNP). However, there is little evidence of how academic and clinical institutions and individuals should collaborate in each process of EBNP and the factors that influence academic-practice partnerships in EBNP. There is a pressing need to explore the extent of the literature on academic-practice partnerships in EBNP, as well as to classify, compare and summarise the results or opinions obtained from various types of literature to identify both existing knowledge and gaps in the research. <h3>Methods and analysis</h3> The scoping review will be conducted following the methodological guidelines provided by the JBI. The scoping review will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Seven databases, including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Educational Resource Information Center and two Chinese databases (ie, CNKI and WANFANG DATA), will be searched. The grey literature will also be searched using the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Nurses Association, Open Grey, Grey Literature Report and the official website of JBI. The literature screening and data extraction will be conducted independently by two researchers. A third researcher will be involved when a consensus is needed. <h3>Ethics and dissemination</h3> Ethics approval is not required. The findings of the scoping review will be disseminated in a conference and a peer-reviewed journal.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Academic-Practice Partnerships: Implications for Nursing Education.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected academic-practice partnerships in multiple ways. This article examines how the pandemic affected partnerships at one college of nursing. A survey on the effects of COVID-19 on academic-practice partnerships was sent to all faculty (n = 228). Data were analyzed using a mixed-method approach. Of 69 surveys that were completed, 38 faculty reported 52 unique partnerships during the 2019-2020 academic year. Of the 52 partnerships, 63% (n = 33) had changed and 12% (n = 6) were newly established partnerships in response to COVID-19. Common changes included temporary suspension of activities (n = 13) and a change (n = 9) or decrease (n = 7) in activities. Major themes included clinical disruptions and transitioning to telehealth and online services. COVID-19 created challenges for academic-practice partnerships but also generated opportunities for nursing education to contribute to the pandemic response and meet evolving population and organizational needs. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(9):533-536.].

Academic-practice partnerships in evidence-based nursing practice: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionAcademic-practice partnerships are a promising strategy that could strengthen the promotion and innovation of evidence-based nursing practice (EBNP). However, there is little evidence of how academic and clinical institutions and...

Healthcare Transformation: Academic-Practice Partnerships.

Healthcare Transformation: Academic-Practice Partnerships.

Differences in evidence-based nursing practice competencies of clinical and academic nurses in China and opportunities for complementary collaborations: A cross-sectional study.

To explore the evidence-based nursing practice (EBNP) competencies of clinical and academic nurses and their collaboration needs for supporting EBNP. Academic-practice partnerships have strong potential to overcome the key barriers to EBNP. However, there is little known about the collaboration needs of clinical and academic nurses for EBNP. A cross-sectional study. We recruited clinical and academic nurses online during November 2021 to January 2022. Using a reliable and validated scale and adapted questionnaires, data were collected relating to demographic information, EBNP-related resources availability, EBNP competencies and EBNP collaboration needs. These data were described using descriptive statistical methods. The t test, χ2 test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to evaluate if the different responses between clinical and academic nurses were statistically significant. This study was reported following the STROBET checklist. Two 240 clinical nurses and 232 academic nurses submitted questionnaires. There was no difference in overall EBNP competence between clinical and academic nurses. However, clinical nurses reported lower levels of competence and stronger intentions to collaborate with academic nurses when searching for, appraising, and synthesising evidence. Academic nurses reported lower levels of competence and stronger intentions to collaborate with clinical nurses for disseminating and implementing evidence. Clinical and academic nurses both reported high needs for collaborating to overcome their perceived role limitations. Clinical and academic nurses have different strengths and limitations in EBNP. These role differences and intentions to collaborate for different dimensions of EBNP competence suggest that clinical and academic nursing roles could be complementary to each other, offering opportunities for synergistic collaborations to better support overall EBNP. Healthcare and academic institutions should promote academic-practice partnerships as opportunities to gain complementary expertise on different dimensions of EBNP, and to improve nurses' competencies and confidence in EBNP overall.

Nurses suffering in silence: Addressing the stigma of mental health in nursing and healthcare.

Nurses suffering in silence: Addressing the stigma of mental health in nursing and healthcare.

Academic Practice Partnerships: Working Together to Shape the Future of Nursing.

Academic Practice Partnerships: Working Together to Shape the Future of Nursing.

Creating an academic-practice partnership in a primary care pediatric clinic

There is increasing demand for primary care nationally, and advanced practice registered nurses are uniquely suited to meet this demand. Academic nursing programs are responding to this challenge by expanding graduate nurse practitioner (NP) programs, but they are limited by availability of student clinical placement sites and dedicated preceptors. We addressed these limitations by developing an academic-practice partnership between a College of Nursing pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) program and a primary care clinic within an academic pediatric hospital. A novel PNP faculty role was developed with teaching, patient care, and clinical precepting responsibilities. This partnership increased access to pediatric primary care services within the local underserved community, increased the number of teaching faculty members and clinical preceptors, and expanded clinical education opportunities for PNP students.

Teams Model of Clinical Nursing Education: An Innovative Approach.

The need for registered nurses has never been greater. Only through thoughtful academic-practice partnerships will it be possible to align the current and future demands of the workplace with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are required. Outdated nursing education models that treat practice partners as "real estate" and try to expose all students, in the same way, to the full array of patient populations, most often in acute care settings, do not serve the profession well. Attending to the heightened expectations for nurses to lead complex, interprofessional teams across an array of settings led to the development of the Teams Model of clinical nursing education. In this model, students match to practice partner facilities where they complete the majority of their clinical hours. They do not rotate through various settings, they do not spend precious practice time reorienting to new facilities, and they are not relegated to the periphery of the interprofessional team when in the student role. They become expected and valuable members of the care delivery team. They focus on developing depth as a nurse rather than breath across patient populations. The Teams Model is predicated on advancing academic-practice partnerships that provide a pipeline for workforce development and prepares the new graduate as a work-ready hire. Ongoing evaluation of the students' development and their knowledge acquisition is linked to practice partner assessments and provides support for this model as an innovative alternative to preparing the next generation of nurses. This partnership program builds confidence through immersion experiences in a consistent, welcoming, and prepared clinical environment, with opportunities to advance the priorities of the practice setting in addition to promoting positive patient outcomes. Benefits include student exposure to nontraditional fields of nursing and areas of critical shortage as well as the ability to pivot quickly as workforce needs shift.

The Nursing Baccalaureate Dual Enrollment Model: Outcomes for A Community College and University Partnership.

The dual enrollment model in which universities collaborate with community colleges to provide the prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) education has been identified by the National Academy of Medicine as one of 5 viable academic progression models for transforming nursing education. The New Mexico Nursing Education Consortium (NMNEC) is a successful example of the dual enrollment model, which began in 2015 with one partnership. By 2018, 3 universities and 5 community colleges had partnered to offer the BSN jointly with the community college locations. In this retrospective, descriptive study, the 2 program types were compared to assess for differences in demographic and academic characteristics as well as program outcomes for the BSN graduates (n = 1018) from 2015 to 2018. The results of the analysis show that NMNEC has been successful in increasing the total number and diversity of BSN graduates for New Mexico. Importantly, NMNEC serves as an exemplar academic-practice partnership model because the success of the consortium would not have been possible without the involvement of practice partners. The outcomes from this study support academic-practice partnerships as instrumental in developing a better educated and more diverse nursing workforce that will improve patient outcomes and strive for health equity.

Development and Implementation a Novel Advanced Practice Provider Mentorship Model

One challenge in increasing the advanced practice provider (APP) workforce is helping new providers transition from student to an advanced practice role. Mentorship can help support this transition, increase provider retention, and improve quality of care. An academic-practice partnership between a school of nursing and rural hospital system led to the development and implementation of a novel APP mentorship model titled CATAPULT: Coaching Advancement to All Providers Using Leadership Tools. This program and its associated toolkit can be used as a framework for other institutions to implement APP mentorship programs.