290 ■ III: ROLE FUNCTIONS OF DOCTORAL ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE
■ CREATING A STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT ACADEMIC
SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS
Collaboration is an essential skill for nurse leaders. As nurses, we often find ourselves
in the middle of communication between multiple partners. Many times, these partners
are physicians or other clinical disciplines. This chapter provides an exemplar of effec-
tive collaboration and communication through educational and service organizations
serving UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding academic partners. This
work is in the form of an Academic– Service Partnership Council (ASPC).
The UPMC is characterized as a global health enterprise. It is made up of various
entities including an insurance arm and an enterprise services arm known for its inno-
vation and broad strategic thinking. The system is composed of more than 20 hospitals
including a hospital in Palermo, Italy. There are over 400 doctors’ offices, extended care
facilities, and outpatient sites. This provides for expansive clinical opportunities for stu-
dents at every level, particularly for the DNP level.
Partnering with schools of nursing has been a long- standing UPMC practice. The
health system is closely affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, a major academic
institution with a top- ranked nursing program. This structure represented a strong
foundation from which an academic–service partnership could be formed.
Beyond the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, there are many nursing
academic institutions in the region. They represent programs with DNP, PhD, master’s,
baccalaureate, associate’s, and hospital- based diploma degrees. The APSC began with
the health system, its university affiliate, and nine other nursing programs within the
region. Inviting each of them to have a seat at the table was somewhat intimidating. The
first task was to create structure and work— a purpose to come together.
The council was first somewhat formal. The invitation list included academic rep-
resentation in the form of deans, program directors, and faculty. Service representation
included chief nursing officers, directors of nursing education, program administrators,
and nurse educators. Meetings were held monthly and the journey began with the mis-
sion to create systems, which support the finest clinical experiences, the highest pre-
pared nurses, and a focus on hiring and retaining the best nursing talent locally and
nationally.
The goals were lofty and it was easy to see that relationships needed to be built to
achieve these goals and for effective collaboration to occur. The first goal was to estab-
lish trust. Participants would only then feel comfortable discussing issues and opinions
in front of those they traditionally competed with for students. The council began by
identifying the challenges each faced. These included increasing patient complexity,
faculty shortages, legislative changes, quality metrics and reimbursement implications,
rapid technological changes, and preceptor development.
It was important to identify that first big project that all would have a stake in.
The co- chairs included a DNP- prepared clinical education leader and a DNP- prepared
chief nursing officer within the health system. The DNP leadership role in bridging the
service and academic settings made exceptional use of the advanced clinical, leader-
ship, and education competencies developed through the DNP education. It was clear
that the health system lacked standardization across each clinical setting. Each academic
institution held an affiliation agreement with each hospital in the health system. Each
clinical site managed affiliation agreements differently and held different standards for
student placement. This meant that multiple and different affiliation agreements needed
to be processed even though all hospitals were part of the same health system. Further, a
student who was cleared for clinical rotations at one of our hospitals may not be cleared