The serendipity of faculty practice: strategies for success

Academic-service partnerships in nursing: an integrative review

This integrative review summarizes currently available evidence on academic-service partnerships in the profession of nursing. More than 300 articles, published primarily in refereed journals, were accessed. Articles (110) were included in this review as they presented detailed and substantive information about any aspect of a nursing academic-service partnership. The majority were anecdotal in nature. Topics clustered around the following categories: pre-requisites for successful partnerships, benefits of partnerships, types of partnerships, and workforce development with its themes of academic-practice progression and educational re-design. Many examples of partnerships between academic and service settings were thoroughly described and best practices suggested, most often, however, without formal evaluation of outcomes. Nursing leaders in both settings have a long tradition of partnering with very little replicable evidence to support their efforts. It is critical that future initiatives evaluate the effectiveness of these partnerships, not only to ensure quality of patient outcomes but also to maximize efforts at building capacity for tomorrow's workforce.

Limited clinical site availability, outstanding mental health needs and barriers to faculty practice: A proposal for resolution

A Canadian university is experiencing increasing difficulty in accessing appropriate clinical experiences for undergraduate psychiatric nursing students. Meanwhile, many nursing faculty are experiencing an increased desire for clinical practice opportunities. Concurrently a gap in mental health service delivery exists for those residents who experience severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI). This paper proposes a solution through establishment of a mental health promotion clinic as a mechanism for managing issues concerning clinical site availability, faculty clinical practice, and mental health service provision for persons experiencing SPMI.

The experience of faculty practice: developing and evaluating a newly established program

While the notion of faculty practice, that is clinical practice by an academic in a health service environment, is not new, Australian Universities have been slow in providing practice environments where academics' theoretical understanding is informed through the service environment. Although there is a plethora of published academic opinion on the benefits, there is a dearth of meaningful data describing the subjective experience of academics that participate in faculty practice. Developing an understanding of the issues academics experience, while on faculty practice, provides a vital opportunity for those seeking to adopt a faculty practice model in their institution. The paper describes the genesis of the faculty practice program and outlines both the benefits and challenges that were encountered during implementation. A program evaluation conducted by an independent consultant indicated that all faculty practice participants found the process to be empowering and revitalising, despite their initial apprehension. The personal and professional gains achieved while on faculty practice were considered to compensate for the additional workload involved. The immediate dividends of enhanced self-esteem, classroom practices and credibility with students for faculty practice participants were outcomes achieved.

Contractual issues for faculty practice

Contracts are a common foundation for faculty practice relationships between a college of nursing and other agencies. Although the legal format of a contract is relatively standardized, the process of contracting entails decisions and issues that increase its complexity. Little is available in the faculty practice literature that addresses contracts and contractual issues as a comprehensive whole. This article contains discussions of nursing faculty practice contractual issues such as the elements of a contract as a framework, including competent parties, offer, consideration, and acceptance. Evaluation of contract performance is addressed and alternatives for decision making and problem resolutions are suggested throughout. J Prof Nurs 17:173-179, 2001.

Faculty practice: a model to bridge the theory-practice divide

It has been suggested that as a result of nurse education withdrawing from the clinical setting and becoming established in institutions of higher education, there has been a separation of theory from practice. Recognition of the theory-practice gap by clinicians and professional bodies has led to calls for nurse educators to retain a clinical focus. Faculty practice is described and critically discussed as a model of practice to bridge the theory-practice divide. In this article, the author presents the results of a 6-month pilot study to implement such a model within a community trust, and suggests that the development of such initiatives will foster collaborative working and improve nurse education and patient care.