534493
research-article2014
NSQXXX10.1177/0894318414534493Nursing Science QuarterlyNursing Science QuarterlyFawcett / Essays on Nursing Science
Essays on Nursing Science
Thoughts About Collaboration—Or Is It Capitulation?
Nursing Science Quarterly 2014, Vol. 27(3) 260–261 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0894318414534493 nsq.sagepub.com
Jacqueline Fawcett, RN; PhD; FAAN1
Abstract In this essay, I share my thoughts about collaboration and capitulation. I pose several questions that point to the danger of capitulation when collaborative efforts between nurses and between nurses and other healthcare team members fail to take into account the distinctive perspectives of the discipline of nursing and the distinctions between associate degree and baccalaureate degree entry into nursing practice programs. Keywords capitulation, collaboration, nursing knowledge This essay focuses on collaboration, which is generally regarded as the major component of multiple discipline research (Fawcett, 2013) and interprofessional education (Fawcett, 2014) that is now required for funding (Florczak, 2013). I offer thoughts about what collaboration by nurses with members of other disciplines and with other nurses means and issue a cautionary note to avoid capitulation to the perspectives of other disciplines as well as to market forces within the discipline of nursing.
Collaboration Collaboration is defined as “United labour, co-operation; esp. in literary, artistic, or scientific work” (Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/ 36197?redirectedFrom=collaboration#eid). This definition is the usual intended meaning of nurse researchers’ and practicing nurses’ interest in working with each other and others as a “health team” (Milton, 2013, p. 316) to address the same or similar lifespan experiences and health conditions. However, noteworthy is the other definition of collaboration–“Traitorous cooperation with the enemy" (Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/ 36197?redirectedFrom=collaboration#eid). Thus, we must consider the extent to which nurses’ collaboration with members of other disciplines and healthcare fields is “united labour” or “cooperation with the enemy” or at least those who may not appreciate nurses’ perspectives and who may not respect nursing knowledge. Clearly, when nurses collaborate with each other and others, two questions should be asked as the work begins. These questions are: (a) What perspectives are used? and (b) Which perspective takes precedence as the basis for the work?
Capitulation Among the several definitions of capitulation, the one that is most relevant for this discussion is: “An act or the action of surrendering to an enemy, esp. upon stipulated terms; an agreement to surrender upon terms” (Retrieved from http:// www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/27490? redirectedFrom=capitulation#eid). With regard to capitulation, nurses need to ask themselves and their nurse colleagues two questions: (a) Is interprofessional education an instance of nurses’ capitulation to other members of the healthcare team? (b) Why are the Institute of Medicine [italics added] (IOM, 2011) recommendations about nursing so important that nurse educators are working very hard to implement those recommendations through major curriculum revisions? and (c) Why do nurses pay any attention to what physicians and other non-nurse members of the IOM, who provide no documentation of knowing anything about nursing knowledge, write about nursing?
Collaboration or Capitulation One of the recommendations of the IOM (2011) is to facilitate registered nurses’ progress from associate degree education to baccalaureate degree education by means of collaboration between associate degree and baccalaureate degree nursing programs. This recommendation certainly is in keeping with the goal of baccalaureate degree preparation for all registered nurses and perhaps signals the beginning of substantial progress toward requiring the baccalaureate degree for entry into professional nursing practice, a call for 1
Professor, Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Boston
Downloaded from nsq.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 18, 2015
261
Fawcett / Essays on Nursing Science which was first issued by the American Nurses’ Association in 1965 (American Nurses Association, 1965). However, operationalization of the recommendation has resulted in awarding credit for all or almost all associate degree courses by many RN to BSN programs. My questions are: (a) Why are nursing education administrators eager to establish partnerships between schools offering associate degrees in nursing and schools offering baccalaureate degrees in nursing, partnerships that frequently result in awarding “blanket credit” for all associate degree program clinical courses upon admission to the baccalaureate nursing program? (b) Does “blanket credit” mean that the substantive knowledge, attitudes, and skills associated with a particular life experience (for example, care of childbearing families) are exactly the same in both associate degree and baccalaureate degree programs? (c) If so, what is the value of baccalaureate nursing education beyond perhaps one or two practice-focused courses (for example, community health nursing), a nursing research course focusing on evidence-based practice, a statistics course, health policy and ethics courses, and a few liberal arts courses? (d) Have nursing education administrators capitulated to market forces (for example, program A in this region offers blanket credit so we in program B also must do so to attract students to our RN to BSN program)?
Conclusion I agree with Florczak (2013) that “nursing should remain somewhat protective of its boundaries and yet be open to collaboration with other disciplines of equal power and status” [italics added] (p. 314). However, I remain concerned that unless and until all nurses fully understand and acknowledge the value of nursing discipline-specific knowledge, the danger of capitulation to the perspectives of members of other
disciplines and the trade of medicine remains. The danger of capitulation also exists within the discipline of nursing unless and until nurses fully understand and acknowledge the differences in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that differentiate the focus and content of associate degree and baccalaureate degree curricula, especially practice-focused nursing courses. I encourage readers to answer the questions I have asked and share their thoughts about collaboration and capitulation in the pages of future issues of Nursing Science Quarterly. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this column.
Funding The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this column.
References American Nurses’ Association. (1965). A position paper. New York: Author. Fawcett, J. (2013). Thoughts about multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 376-379. Fawcett, J. (2014). Thoughts about interprofessional education. Nursing Science Quarterly, 27, 178-179. Florczak, K. L. (2013). Protecting the discipline: Collaboration revisited. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 311-315. Institute of Medicine. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, D. C.: National Academies Press. Milton, C. L. (2013). Ethical issues surrounding interprofessional collaboration. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 316-318.
Downloaded from nsq.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 18, 2015
research-article2014
NSQXXX10.1177/0894318414534493Nursing Science QuarterlyNursing Science QuarterlyFawcett / Essays on Nursing Science
Essays on Nursing Science
Thoughts About Collaboration—Or Is It Capitulation?
Nursing Science Quarterly 2014, Vol. 27(3) 260–261 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0894318414534493 nsq.sagepub.com
Jacqueline Fawcett, RN; PhD; FAAN1
Abstract In this essay, I share my thoughts about collaboration and capitulation. I pose several questions that point to the danger of capitulation when collaborative efforts between nurses and between nurses and other healthcare team members fail to take into account the distinctive perspectives of the discipline of nursing and the distinctions between associate degree and baccalaureate degree entry into nursing practice programs. Keywords capitulation, collaboration, nursing knowledge This essay focuses on collaboration, which is generally regarded as the major component of multiple discipline research (Fawcett, 2013) and interprofessional education (Fawcett, 2014) that is now required for funding (Florczak, 2013). I offer thoughts about what collaboration by nurses with members of other disciplines and with other nurses means and issue a cautionary note to avoid capitulation to the perspectives of other disciplines as well as to market forces within the discipline of nursing.
Collaboration Collaboration is defined as “United labour, co-operation; esp. in literary, artistic, or scientific work” (Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/ 36197?redirectedFrom=collaboration#eid). This definition is the usual intended meaning of nurse researchers’ and practicing nurses’ interest in working with each other and others as a “health team” (Milton, 2013, p. 316) to address the same or similar lifespan experiences and health conditions. However, noteworthy is the other definition of collaboration–“Traitorous cooperation with the enemy" (Retrieved from http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/ 36197?redirectedFrom=collaboration#eid). Thus, we must consider the extent to which nurses’ collaboration with members of other disciplines and healthcare fields is “united labour” or “cooperation with the enemy” or at least those who may not appreciate nurses’ perspectives and who may not respect nursing knowledge. Clearly, when nurses collaborate with each other and others, two questions should be asked as the work begins. These questions are: (a) What perspectives are used? and (b) Which perspective takes precedence as the basis for the work?
Capitulation Among the several definitions of capitulation, the one that is most relevant for this discussion is: “An act or the action of surrendering to an enemy, esp. upon stipulated terms; an agreement to surrender upon terms” (Retrieved from http:// www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/view/Entry/27490? redirectedFrom=capitulation#eid). With regard to capitulation, nurses need to ask themselves and their nurse colleagues two questions: (a) Is interprofessional education an instance of nurses’ capitulation to other members of the healthcare team? (b) Why are the Institute of Medicine [italics added] (IOM, 2011) recommendations about nursing so important that nurse educators are working very hard to implement those recommendations through major curriculum revisions? and (c) Why do nurses pay any attention to what physicians and other non-nurse members of the IOM, who provide no documentation of knowing anything about nursing knowledge, write about nursing?
Collaboration or Capitulation One of the recommendations of the IOM (2011) is to facilitate registered nurses’ progress from associate degree education to baccalaureate degree education by means of collaboration between associate degree and baccalaureate degree nursing programs. This recommendation certainly is in keeping with the goal of baccalaureate degree preparation for all registered nurses and perhaps signals the beginning of substantial progress toward requiring the baccalaureate degree for entry into professional nursing practice, a call for 1
Professor, Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Boston
Downloaded from nsq.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 18, 2015
261
Fawcett / Essays on Nursing Science which was first issued by the American Nurses’ Association in 1965 (American Nurses Association, 1965). However, operationalization of the recommendation has resulted in awarding credit for all or almost all associate degree courses by many RN to BSN programs. My questions are: (a) Why are nursing education administrators eager to establish partnerships between schools offering associate degrees in nursing and schools offering baccalaureate degrees in nursing, partnerships that frequently result in awarding “blanket credit” for all associate degree program clinical courses upon admission to the baccalaureate nursing program? (b) Does “blanket credit” mean that the substantive knowledge, attitudes, and skills associated with a particular life experience (for example, care of childbearing families) are exactly the same in both associate degree and baccalaureate degree programs? (c) If so, what is the value of baccalaureate nursing education beyond perhaps one or two practice-focused courses (for example, community health nursing), a nursing research course focusing on evidence-based practice, a statistics course, health policy and ethics courses, and a few liberal arts courses? (d) Have nursing education administrators capitulated to market forces (for example, program A in this region offers blanket credit so we in program B also must do so to attract students to our RN to BSN program)?
Conclusion I agree with Florczak (2013) that “nursing should remain somewhat protective of its boundaries and yet be open to collaboration with other disciplines of equal power and status” [italics added] (p. 314). However, I remain concerned that unless and until all nurses fully understand and acknowledge the value of nursing discipline-specific knowledge, the danger of capitulation to the perspectives of members of other
disciplines and the trade of medicine remains. The danger of capitulation also exists within the discipline of nursing unless and until nurses fully understand and acknowledge the differences in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that differentiate the focus and content of associate degree and baccalaureate degree curricula, especially practice-focused nursing courses. I encourage readers to answer the questions I have asked and share their thoughts about collaboration and capitulation in the pages of future issues of Nursing Science Quarterly. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this column.
Funding The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this column.
References American Nurses’ Association. (1965). A position paper. New York: Author. Fawcett, J. (2013). Thoughts about multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 376-379. Fawcett, J. (2014). Thoughts about interprofessional education. Nursing Science Quarterly, 27, 178-179. Florczak, K. L. (2013). Protecting the discipline: Collaboration revisited. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 311-315. Institute of Medicine. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, D. C.: National Academies Press. Milton, C. L. (2013). Ethical issues surrounding interprofessional collaboration. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26, 316-318.
Downloaded from nsq.sagepub.com at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 18, 2015
