294chapter TWELVE
Refl ective Response
Judy A. Beal
Academic– service partnerships are critical to advancing the recommendations of the
2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on the future of nursing. The authors of the
chapter present a strong and compelling case for the role that these partnerships have
in building the capacity and growing enrollments in the Doctor of Nursing Practice
(DNP) programs. I could not agree more with their statement that “the presence of a
DNP program in both practice and academic settings provides opportunities for col-
laborations extending well beyond the traditional affiliation for student education.”
Exemplars from their university and health system provide rich details on not only
how nursing leaders can leverage faculty, staff, and operations to embrace and grow
DNP student experiences but also the benefits of such experiences to both partners. Not
only is the education of DNP students beneficial to service partners, but it is dependent
on the strong partnership with the clinical enterprise. In spite of the efforts made since
2010 by the AACN-AONE (American Association of Colleges of Nursing and American
Organization of Nurse Executives) Task Force on Academic– Practice Partnership, there
remains little, if any, published evidence of outcomes of such relationships. The AACN-
AONE Academic– Practice Partnership Awards, given since 2014, present a glimpse of
exceptional work to build and sustain relationships for a variety of goals ranging from
the traditional to increase the educational opportunities, to building the workforce ca-
pacity, improving the health outcomes of communities of interest, expanding the re-
search and scholarship, to name a few. A review of these awards and related publications
can be viewed at the AACN website ( http://www.aacn.nche.edu/ leading initiatives/ academic
- practice- partnerships/ academic- practice- partnerships- award- winners). Although the
evidence for partnerships is strong, the fact remains that there are many barriers to
developing and sustaining them. Along with the usual excuses of simply “not enough
time”, a recently more reoccurring barrier has emerged as the tsunami of retirements of
senior nurse leaders in both the academy and service sectors. Turnover of these lead-
ers can disrupt established goals and initiatives and building a new relationship takes
time to develop the mutual respect that is essential to a shared vision and goals for
partnership. As highlighted in this chapter, the AACN-AONE task force has provided
guidelines for establishing and sustaining partnerships, a tool kit with specific strate-
gies to do so, and exemplars of success (AACN, 2012). The values and benefits for both
practice and academic leaders are summarized in a 2011 article discussing the hallmarks
of best practice in academic– practice partnerships as identified by a sample of 72 deans