No man is an island [horizontal ellipsis] It's an old phrase but nonetheless true. There are few times when one person is the sole force behind the quality and effectiveness of a health care experience. While there are always the stories about individual OheroesO or OvillainsO for most situations, a patient/client experience is made up of an amalgam of people, events, processes, and outcomes. We make it or break it as a group of "co-conspirators" in the health care event.

The continuous quality improvement (CQI) lessons of the eighties and nineties reinforced the positive power of the team of partners. Any list of critical elements of successful improvement strategies highlighted the importance of working together, almost like synchronized swimmers.

Partnerships have long been recognized as an essential part of surviving and thriving in today's ever changing health care organizations and environments. Whether describing the partnering in the care of an individual, or the partnering of departments and disciplines in addressing a challenge, or the partnering across organizations or industries-partnership is and will continue to be an important part of our future.

These relationships and strategies, however, do not happen by accident. Rather they are envisioned, crafted, and nurtured day to day in order to make them effective. With whom are you collaborating to generate clinical improvement? If your list is short, you may want to let partnership ideas stimulated by this issue of the Journal of Nursing Care Quality (14:3) push you toward an enhanced approach.

Yes, no man is an island. A focus on partnerships can set the stage for greater impact and success in improving care and service.

-Patricia Schroeder, RN, MSN, MBA

Journal Editor