Lessons Learned From a History of Perseverance and Innovation in Academic–Practice Partnerships

Nurse leaders today are faced with a pressing concern to reevaluate established community resources and models for academic–practice partnerships that have been used in the preparation of new and advanced practice nurses. Nursing reform in education and practice is not achieved as a simple series of decisions in the present moment with future direction as its object. It is a process in which the outcome is ultimately evaluated within the context of history. Academic–practice partnerships are part of a nursing heritage that has persevered for hundreds of years. This article is a brief synopsis of examples from the historical records that evidence the lessons learned from the experiences of nurses who have formed innovative academic–practice partnerships with religious communities, medical colleges and physicians, government, hospitals, institutions of higher learning, and nursing organizations.