Description/Overview: Undergraduate education and patient care outcomes can be improved when academe and service form a partnership to integrate and leverage resources. The University of Michigan Health System and School of Nursing formed such a partnership. This unique partnership is highly integrated to improve the outcomes of education, practice and scholarship. Improved patient outcomes are grounded in the use of clinical teams and focused on the use of evidence at the point of care. Structures and processes were changed to facilitate a team learning environment. These changes such as embedding faculty with research and clinical experience on units in the clinical settings, and assigning students to nurse mentors and teams rather than patients, creating a bridge to anchor and connect the mission areas of education, practice, and scholarship. The first paper describes this unique partnership model, structure and process for integration and the synergy created when learning teams are formed and the integration occurs. The second paper describes how the educational component is envisioned as a joint effort that provides environmental stability for learning and nurtures dynamic practice for students, faculty, and staff through self-regulated learning practices. The third paper discusses how staff, faculty, and students use their specific expertise to jointly analyze nurse sensitive data and design effective interventions to enhance quality. Outcomes in the areas of education, clinical practice, and scholarship will be evaluated as a cohesive set to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model and the value of integration.

Learner Objective #1: The learner will be able to describe the implementation of an academic-service partnership to influence patient outcomes.

Learner Objective #2: The learner will be able to identify elements of an integrated academic-service partnership that promote evidence-based practice, education, and scholarship.