Factors influencing partnerships between higher education and healthcare

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the factors influencing partnerships between higher education and healthcare.

Background: Partnerships have often been studied as organisations' internal processes or multi-professional team activities. However, there has been less research on the partnership as a phenomenon between organisations and, until now, the research has mainly focused on experiences in the US and the UK.

Setting, participants and methods: The study was carried out in Finland. Staff from a university of applied sciences and a service unit for the elderly took part in nine focus group interviews (n=39) and produced self-evaluations based on diaries (n=13) and essays (n=24). The data were analysed by qualitative content analysis.

Results: The factors influencing partnerships were: a joint development target, agreeing on collaboration, providing resources for partnership, enhancing mutual understanding, sharing operational culture, commitment and participatory change management and communication.

Conclusions: This study updates, and complements, previous reviews on factors influencing partnerships, by providing some new concepts and a new cultural perspective from Finland on a partnership between higher education and healthcare. The results provide information on factors that influence partnerships and develop and manage their sustainability.