This academic-practice partnership has flourished due to the open lines of communication between senior leadership. According to Beal et al. (2012), “a successful partnership always includes mutual trust and respect, a shared vision and goals, equal and ongoing commitment to the partnership, and open, honest, and ongoing communication.” These principles have evolved to serve as the values upon which the partnership continues to grow and mature.
Background: The eight guiding principles of an academic-practice partnership served as the framework for the AUMSON-Baptist partnership. The guiding principles upon which the partnership was formed includes: the establishment of a formal relationship between senior leaders; mutual respect and trust; open lines of communication for knowledge sharing; and the collaborative creation of evidence-based programs to assist in new graduate transition into the nursing role (AACN, 2012). The senior leadership of both institutions, AUMSON’s Dean and Baptist’s Chief Operating Officer, have cultivated their relationship over four years. Through this relationship they identified the shared responsibility to “prepare and enable nurses to lead change and advance health” (AACN, 2012). In particular, there is a tremendous need to cultivate the nurse candidate pipeline while at the same time provide specialty education to meet workforce needs. Developing the pipeline of pre-nursing students is a proactive approach related to the nursing shortage (AACN, 2017; IOM, 2010). This shared vision has been embraced by the staff at both institutions. Following the example set by senior leadership, faculty and nurse administrators have developed the processes necessary to achieve the desired outcome. The dedication of senior leadership to a shared vision that includes a dual approach to better prepare the pre-nursing students for the discipline of nursing and develop select nursing students for specialty units was formalized through an agreement for financial funding from the health system with in-kind contributions from academia.
Initiatives: This pipeline initiative has two components, pre-nursing and new graduate nurse foci. Pre-nursing students complete an application and are selected to participate in the pre-nursing living learning community (PNLLC). Through the Baptist Health partnership, PNLLC students are matched with staff nurses to learn more about the profession. Special internship opportunities have been developed for these students. In addition, AUMSON nursing faculty meet with PNLLC students on a regular basis to discuss topics such as professionalism, emerging health issues, study habits, mentorship, resume writing, etc. When PNLLC students are in their sophomore year, this partnership helps prepare the students to apply for admission into the traditional baccalaureate nursing program.
In their junior year, students accepted into the AUMSON begin completing formal nursing coursework. Traditionally, the focus of baccalaureate coursework has been the preparation of generalist nurses (AACN, 2008). In conversations between clinical partners it became clear that students have limited experience in specialty units thus restricting their ability to obtain a position in units such as the emergency department and operating services. In order to address this workforce need, the academic program developed a specialty course which includes a clinical component whose focus was determined by our clinical partner. Senior students with qualifying GPAs are invited to complete a comprehensive application that includes a goal statement and other pertinent questions. The specialty course is fully funded by the health system including tuition, books, and other required resources. The inaugural cohort taking the specialty course consisted of eight students who completed a semester long emergency nursing course. The course’s content included information specific to emergency nursing that was not taught within the traditional baccalaureate curriculum, including information unique to the three emergency departments within the health system. Within the course faculty promoted the three key factors set forth by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) for improving retention rates in the emergency department. These factors include the ability to provide high quality care, nurse-staffing ratios, and educational preparation (Emergency Nurses Association [ENA], 2017). The required resources and readings, as well as the content presented in the course prepared students to obtain certification in emergency nursing after earning licensure. Upon the first cohort’s completion of the specialty course, 50% of the students accepted positions within the health system’s emergency departments. An additional 25% of the students who completed the specialty course accepted positions in intensive care departments within the health system.
Conclusion: The health system benefits from the academic-practice partnership to create a pre-nursing pipeline that is directly linked to the local hospital system. The ability to connect to the hospital system provides the depth and breadth needed to support this population of students. Preparing students for specialty units meets the workforce needs of our clinical partner and an unintentional consequence is that it has become a recruitment strategy for the AUMSON. Additional benefits of the partnership include expansion of preceptorships, clinical placements, targeted student projects, and recruitment to meet workplace needs. The academic practice leaders are planning to offer a different specialty course in year three. With the shared vision and partnership, plans are underway to offer a course in perioperative nursing in year three.