| Learning Objective #1: Understand and utilize an organizational framework for analyzing collaborations that may be helpful in planning future nursing initiatives. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Learn about nurses' retrospective perceptions and lessons learned while participating in the Colleagues in Caring program. |
Abstract
Colleagues in Caring (1996-2002) was designed to assist states and regions in establishing partnerships between constituents of nursing education and work places in order to interdependently address nursing work force issues. The initiative was distinctive in its explicit attention to building collaborations and sparked successfully sustained partnerships beyond its funded period.
The purpose of this study was to examine a sample of the Colleagues in Caring initiative for interorganizational characteristics of collaboration. A retrospective single-site case study design was used to examine the collaborative principles and essences of the Colleagues in Caring initiative from the participants’ point of view. The researcher asked: What were the participants’ perceptions of the collaborative infrastructure, procedures, and leadership behaviors? Findings were analyzed through the lens of the Interorganizational Arrangements Model (Intriligator, 2004) that uses representative indicators of effective organizational partnerships.
Four major issues emerged from the data: 1) the purposeful and expressly articulated collaborative design contributed to the longevity of the initiative, 2) leadership behaviors were largely defined by personal commitment and moral purpose, 3) it was an important (and new) strategy to have constituents from all levels of nursing education sitting at the same table, and 4) the experience of the Colleagues in Caring produced sufficient benefits to continue to encourage the use of collaborative approaches. Building on “lessons learned” from the unique and historic initiative of Colleagues in Caring, many strategic state and regional initiatives continue to address nursing workforce development with a foundation of collaboration. This study adds to the analysis of the organizational markers of collaboration that will help guide current and future collaborative efforts in the nursing profession.
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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)