Building a collaborative nursing practice to promote patient education: an inpatient and outpatient partnership.

19 The oncology nursing staff of a large medical facility in the midwestern region of the United States identified that communication among nurses regarding education for patients with cancer often was disconnected between the inpatient and outpatient practices. Although excellent patient education was provided in both patient settings, the specialty-specific patient education messages often were unknown between practice areas. Ideally, as patients move among the institutions’ various points of care, they should receive consistent information. The development of a formal partnership was essential to promote consistent communication and to ensure that standards of patient education are congruent between the two settings. A team was formed to assist in identifying and implementing possible solutions to improve the communication issues surrounding specialty-specific patient education. The team was comprised of the hematology, oncology, and blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) clinical nurse specialist; a nursing education specialist whose role was to assist nurses with professional development and education; and three nurse educators representing the Cancer Education Program, an outpatient program charged with the task of meeting the educational needs of patients with cancer across the continuum of care, primarily accomplished through the operation of a Cancer Education Center. After defining the problem of a lack of communication, the project team completed a literature search on nurseto-nurse communication and collaboration. At the time the literature search was completed, information regarding nurses Building a Collaborative Nursing Practice to Promote Patient Education: An Inpatient and Outpatient Partnership