RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE UNIFICATION OF NURSING EDUCATION AND NURSING SERVICE AS IDENTIFIED THROUGH THE DELPHI PROCESS BY NURSE EDUCATORS AND NURSING SERVICE ADMINISTRATOR

This research developed a set of recommendations for improving articulation between nursing education and nursing service. Initially, five recommendations and twenty statements about their affects were obtained from an analysis of the literature. Then, using the Delphi technique, the recommendations were subjected to the judgments of a national expert panel of fifteen associate degree nurse educators and fifteen directors of nursing service from hospitals utilized by associate degree nursing programs.;The panel arrived at consensus on four of the five recommendations and ten of the twenty statements about the affects of the recommendations. The recommendations, in order of the panel's acceptance, were: require nurse educators to practice periodically in the area(s) in which they teach; utilize joint appointments as a method for merging education and practice; include internships as part of the associate degree nursing curriculum; and plan students' clinical experiences in cooperation with nursing service personnel. The ten statements on which consensus was reached were: faculty practice would improve patient care; faculty practice would allow faculty to increase rapport and respect with students and staff nurses; joint appointments would unify education and practice by providing better communication and improving relationships between educators and practitioners; joint appointments would promote congruency of theory and practice of nursing; internships would provide a means for nursing service to participate in the educational program; internships would increase the nurses' job satisfaction and help decrease nurse turnover rates; internships should be included to provide students with more clinical experience; internships should be included in the graduate nurses' orientation to the employing agency; joint planning by education and service would result in closer working relationships between faculty and practitioners; and Joint planning by education and service would improve the quality of nursing care.;Conclusions reached included: problems between nursing education and nursing service have been inadequately studied; vested interests prevent agreement on the level of basic preparation necessary for nurses; closer collaboration between education and practice is needed; and nurse educators should devote more time both in practice and in planning with nursing service personnel.