How Can I Help You? How Can You Help Me? Transforming Nursing Education through Partnerships

...you and i are more than you & i (because It's we) - e.e. cummings, 73 Poems-No. 10 WHAT IF WE TOLD YOU that partnerships are a way to put the glitter back in your eyes and the spring back in your step? Something that makes you jump out of bed in the morning energized to start your day? Would you be interested? More than that, would you overcome your tendency to "go it alone" by reaching out to colleagues and students as potential partners? Distinct from the partnerships between organizations that you read about in nursing journals, our partnerships are mutually beneficial, professional relationships between and among nurses, whether participants are educators, students, or professional colleagues. To see what is unique about how we "do" partnerships, answer the following questions for yourself: 1. When you meet intriguing people, do you ask yourself how you can help them and they can help you? 2. Do you and your prospective partners make wish lists for what you each really want? 3. After dialoguing about your wish lists, do you negotiate a contract that: * Combines your wishes and addresses each partner's needs? * Outlines the time frame and conditions of your partnership? * Specifies how you share pleasures, questions, and concerns? 4. Do you renegotiate your contract PRN to ensure that it stays vibrant? 5. When completed, do you reflect on your partnership experiences together, grieve, and let go so that you and your partner can create new partnerships? If you are not doing even one of these things, this article is worth reading. THE INTENTION OF THIS ARTICLE IS to shift your perspective from going it alone to partnering together. That said, if the idea of partnering with students or colleagues gives you pause, you are not alone. The almost 700 nurse educators who attended our plenary session on partnerships at the NLN Education Summit 2004 divided themselves into three groups: those who said we reaffirmed partnerships they already enjoy; those who wished they had a partner or two; and those who expressed reservations about the idea. Whichever group you are in, this article will actively engage you in learning more about how mutually beneficial partnership relationships can enhance your work life. Keep a pen or pencil handy so that you can assess your work life for areas where you can use a partner; list the reasons why partnerships may or may not work for you and your colleagues, and plan for a partnership of your own. (To assess your partnership needs, see Sidebar I.) Background When I (Kathleen) became the coordinator of the nurse educator track at the University of Hartford (UH) in 1998, I dreamed of living in a community of faculty and student colleagues who fostered each other's scholarly work. With no idea how to make this happen, I teamed up with a student named Judy Cote who wanted her master's degree to be meaningful. Judy and I agreed to design an independent study course that would benefit us both. Judy would learn about the nurse educator role by helping me teach courses, conduct research, consult, and author articles (1). Our partnership was so successful that other faculty and students began to initiate independent studies and practicurn experiences that mutually benefited all participants. Over a five-year period, the Partnership Program (1) expanded into the community of scholarly caring I had envisioned (2). When I left for sabbatical in May 2002, I thought my partnering days were over. Not so! I had begun to view the world not through partnership eyes, but through partnership goggles. Whenever I met someone new, I asked myself two questions: How can I help this person? How can this person help me? After experiencing the zest from these mutually beneficial relationships, unidirectional relationships in which I was only a mentor or only a student no longer interested me. For the last two years, I have continued or begun partnerships with the eight women you will read about in this article. …