As this year's INARC conference theme suggests, we must educate today's nurse leaders with a perspective of grassroots and global implications to affect the future of nursing leadership. One of the strategies to secure the future of nursing leadership is to consider system partnerships and what we do.

Historically, we were not in partnership because we were one: hospitals ran schools of nursing. As schools moved to academic settings and hospitals relied less on students for day-to-day care, we created a greater separation with distinct roles for nurses in the two settings. In doing so, we lost the perspective of the importance of educating nurse leaders and others in the reality of care. As a result, nursing education and practice have come together for serious work to better the products of both endeavors: better graduates, better prepared to provide better care based on evidence. This is the outcome of cooperation, collaboration, and partnerships. And, these outcomes aren't limited to hospitals; they apply to systems as well. Today's partnerships lead to joint ventures in research, practice, and education.

For years, partnerships between education and practice have contributed to the development, implementation, and publication of research. We have accomplished creative approaches to care through similar partnerships focused on care of a given population, creation of a new service, and new models of care. Similarly, we have enriched the learning experiences at undergraduate and graduate levels so that the next generation of nurses is better prepared than the prior. This issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly helps broaden our understanding of several issues associated with systems partnerships and how, working together, we can educate today's nurse leaders to transform tomorrow's health care.1

-Patricia S. Yoder-Wise EdD, RN,

NEA-BC, ANEF, FAAN

Past President, CGEAN

REFERENCE