Nursing Economic$

This article describes findings from an extensive literature review and subject matter expert survey. Barriers to successful partnerships and strategies for success are highlighted, and examples from different types of successful partnerships are provided.

Development of academic-practice partnerships (APPs) provides the foundation to build a sustainable partnership between academia and practice settings. APPs provide academic, practice, and mutual benefits to advance ambulatory care nursing. Those who engage in partnerships can achieve mutual respect and understanding, a shared vision with mutual goals and outcomes, and agreed-upon evaluation strategies. Part 1 of a 3-part series.

Academic practice partnerships play a key role in preparing nurses to care for diverse patients in clinical settings. Evidence-based academic practice partnership guidelines for ambulatory care were created to facilitate student clinical placements that ensure competency of new nurses entering ambulatory care settings.

As health care shifts from an acute, disease, and episodic-based model to one of health, community intervention, and continuum focused interventions, the ambulatory care nurse is essential in this transformation and its success. Leveraging the ANCC Magnet® Model as a blueprint to improved patient outcomes and care of the nursing workforce can ensure that transformation is achieved.

Case management has been effective in improving cost and quality outcomes for at-risk populations. The majority of case management studies have been performed on older Medicare populations and lacked standard financial outcome estimates. A telephonic case management program’s clinical and economic effectiveness was assessed on a commercial population, including return on investment (ROI). The centralized program resulted in statistically significant lower emergency department visits and inpatient admissions with a significant ROI.