| Course | NUR 654 Curriculum Foundations in Nursing Education |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | milestone paper designing an academic-practice partnership |
| Length | About 1,020 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 654 Module 5
Milestone Two: Designing an Academic-Practice Partnership and Mentor Model for an Online RN to BSN Program
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
NUR 654: Curriculum Foundations in Nursing Education
Module Five Milestone Two
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Milestone Two: Designing an Academic-Practice Partnership and Mentor Model for an Online RN to BSN Program
An online RN to BSN program serves students who are also employees, so the program and the employer share a stake in every student's success. When the relationship is limited to a tuition reimbursement form, students juggle schedules alone, practice experiences are hard to arrange and capstone projects solve problems no one at the workplace cares about. Pine Ridge College's program expects to draw most of its first students from Summit Health, a composite regional health system of three hospitals and twelve clinics that requires associate degree nurses hired after 2024 to complete a baccalaureate within five years. This milestone designs a formal academic-practice partnership with Summit. It argues that a partnership built on the features research associates with success, with a mentor model adapted from dedicated education units and shared governance and measures, will serve students, the college and the health system better than an informal arrangement.
What Sustains Partnerships
Beal (2012) conducted an integrative review of published literature on academic-service partnerships in nursing. Partnerships addressed clinical education, workforce development, practice improvement and research, and the review identified characteristics associated with successful ones: a shared vision and goals, mutual respect and trust, commitment of leaders on both sides, clear communication, formal agreements and a sense that both partners benefit. The review also found that relatively few partnerships had been evaluated rigorously, so much of what is known comes from descriptive reports. For Pine Ridge and Summit, these findings translate into specific requirements: a written agreement with shared goals, named leaders with authority, regular meetings and measures that show value to both organizations.
National Principles for Partnerships
National nursing organizations have also set expectations. The national associations for nursing schools and nurse executives jointly issued guiding principles for academic-practice partnerships (American Association of Colleges of Nursing & American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2012), calling for collaborative relationships based on mutual respect and trust, a shared vision and commitment to improving education and practice, knowledge sharing between partners, a commitment to shared resources and joint accountability for outcomes. The principles also encourage partners to consider joint appointments, shared staff development and collaborative research. Pine Ridge and Summit used these principles as a checklist during early meetings, and the draft agreement includes a statement of shared vision signed by both chief executives, a commitment to share resources and a joint annual report. Joint appointments were discussed but deferred until the program's second year, when enrollment will show whether a shared faculty position is justified.
Shared Goals and Benefits
The partnership's goals were drafted jointly by the college's program director and Summit's chief nursing officer. For Summit, the goals are to help its associate degree nurses meet the baccalaureate requirement on time, retain them through the process and produce capstone projects that advance organizational priorities such as reducing readmissions and improving patient experience. For Pine Ridge, the goals are to enroll a steady cohort, secure practice experiences for students and keep the curriculum aligned with current practice. Benefits flow both ways. Summit provides tuition support, flexible scheduling during practice experiences and access to its data and staff for projects; Pine Ridge offers a reduced tuition rate for Summit cohorts, continuing education for Summit mentors and faculty expertise for Summit's quality initiatives.
A Mentor Model Adapted From Dedicated Education Units
Moscato et al. (2007) described the dedicated education unit, a clinical education model developed with a hospital partner in which experienced staff nurses serve as clinical instructors for students on their own units, while university faculty take a new role as coaches and educational resources for those nurses. The model drew on each partner's strengths, practice expertise from the hospital and teaching expertise from the school, and the authors reported positive experiences for students and staff nurses and increased capacity for clinical education.
Pine Ridge will adapt this model for RN to BSN practice experiences, which focus on population health, quality improvement and leadership rather than bedside skills. Summit will designate mentors from its population health, quality and nursing leadership staff, each supporting two to four students on a practice experience or capstone project. Faculty will coach mentors through a four-hour orientation on the course outcomes and assessment rubrics, a monthly virtual meeting and brief guides for each course. Mentors will provide day-to-day guidance and feedback, while faculty remain responsible for grading and for students' academic progress. As in the original model, the division of labor uses each partner's strength.
Governance and Agreements
A partnership council with three members from each organization, including a current student, will meet quarterly to review progress, approve capstone project topics and resolve problems. A formal agreement will specify responsibilities, confidentiality and data use for projects, liability coverage, mentor selection and recognition, the process for handling a student's performance concerns at work and at school separately and the terms for renewal every three years. Students' academic records and their employment records will be kept separate; a student's performance in the program will not be shared with managers without the student's consent.
Measures of Success for Both Partners
Because Beal found few rigorously evaluated partnerships, Pine Ridge and Summit will measure results from the start. Measures for students include enrollment, course completion, time to degree and satisfaction with mentoring. Measures for Summit include the proportion of associate degree nurses meeting the baccalaureate requirement on time, retention of partnership students compared with associate degree nurses not enrolled and the number and results of capstone projects adopted by units. Measures for the college include cohort size, mentor retention and practice experience availability. The council will review these measures annually and publish a short joint report.
Conclusion
An RN to BSN program and its students' employer succeed or fail together. A partnership with shared goals, benefits for both sides, a mentor model that uses practice expertise while keeping academic responsibility with faculty, formal governance that protects students and measures reported jointly gives Pine Ridge and Summit a structure the literature associates with lasting partnerships and a way to show that it works.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing & American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2012). Guiding principles for academic-practice partnerships. American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Beal, J. A. (2012). Academic-service partnerships in nursing: An integrative review. Nursing Research and Practice, 2012, Article 501564. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/501564
Moscato, S. R., Miller, J., Logsdon, K., Weinberg, S., & Chorpenning, L. (2007). Dedicated education unit: An innovative clinical partner education model. Nursing Outlook, 55(1), 31-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2006.11.001
What the NUR 654 Module 5 instructions ask for
Milestone Two in NUR 654 often asks you to design a partnership or clinical learning model that supports the curriculum you are developing. Expect to explain the rationale, draw on literature about partnerships or clinical education models, describe roles, governance and agreements and plan measures. A typical length is five to seven pages in APA 7. Write goals and benefits for both partners, adapt a documented model to your program type rather than copying it, separate practice guidance from academic responsibility, protect students' privacy between school and employer, name who governs the partnership and measure outcomes that matter to each side from the first year. Use national principles as a checklist when drafting the agreement.
How this NUR 654 Module 5 milestone two example is built
This milestone designs a partnership between a composite college's online RN to BSN program and a regional health system that requires associate degree nurses to earn a baccalaureate. The Beal integrative review identifies shared vision, trust, leadership commitment, communication, formal agreements and mutual benefit. The Moscato dedicated education unit, where staff nurses teach and faculty coach, is adapted into a mentor model using population health and quality staff. A partnership council with a student member, a formal agreement separating academic and employment records and joint measures such as retention and adopted capstone projects complete the plan. National partnership principles serve as a checklist, and joint appointments are deferred until enrollment justifies them.
Where the NUR 654 Module 5 rubric puts the points
Grading of partnership milestones generally weighs the rationale, use of literature, clarity of roles and responsibilities, governance and agreements, benefits to each partner, measurement and APA 7 writing. Top-band papers adapt a documented model thoughtfully to their program and explain what changes and why. Graders reward partnerships in which both organizations' goals are explicit, students' interests are protected, including privacy between school and workplace, and outcomes are measured from the start. Recognizing that much partnership literature is descriptive and planning evaluation accordingly shows the critical perspective reviewers value. Using national principles and making realistic decisions about shared positions earns credit. Precise attribution of national principles helps. Joint reporting is valued.
NUR 654 Module 5 help: the mistakes that cost points
Partnership papers lose points when goals are written only from the school's view, when a model is copied without adaptation, when roles between mentors and faculty are unclear or when student privacy and conflicts between work and school are ignored. Another gap is having no measures. State goals for both partners, adapt a documented model, separate guidance from grading, protect students, formalize governance and measure outcomes. If your partnership is for a prelicensure program, a graduate practicum or a residency, send it with your NUR 654 prompt so the design fits. Check the agreement against national partnership principles. Attribute principles precisely. Report results jointly each year.
Get NUR 654 Module 5 written to your instructions
Send us your NUR 654 milestone prompt, your program and potential partner and how it is graded. We will set goals for both partners, adapt a documented model, protect students and plan joint measures, within 24 to 48 hours, free the first time. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
More NUR 654 papers and related MSN samples
- NUR 654 Module 1 Discussion: Why the Goldmark and Brown Reports Still Matter
- NUR 654 Module 2 Curriculum Model Paper: Tyler's Four Questions Applied to an RN to BSN Curriculum
- NUR 654 Module 3 Milestone One: The External Frame: Regulation and Accreditation
- NUR 654 Module 4 Interprofessional Paper: Adding Interprofessional Education to an Online RN to BSN Program
- NUR 602 Module 8 Patient Education: Teaching a Weekly Alendronate Tablet
- NUR 540 Module 5 Short Paper: An Asthma Exacerbation in a School-Age Child
- NUR 653 Module 1 Discussion: From the Patient in Front of You to the Population Behind Them
- NUR 645 Module 1 Discussion: The Curriculum No One Wrote
NUR 654 Module 5 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 654 Module 5 Milestone Two sample?
This page carries the full paper: an academic-practice partnership for an online RN to BSN program with a mentor model adapted from dedicated education units.
What makes academic-practice partnerships succeed?
A shared vision, mutual respect and trust, committed leaders, clear communication, formal agreements and benefits for both partners.
What is a dedicated education unit?
A clinical education model in which staff nurses teach students on their own units while faculty coach the nurses and provide educational support.
How can RN to BSN programs use practice mentors?
Partners can designate quality, population health or leadership staff to guide projects while faculty keep responsibility for grading.
Why separate academic and employment records in a partnership?
To protect students' privacy and prevent school performance from affecting employment without their consent.