Creation of a primary care academic collaborative nexus: enabling and interfering factors

With a renewed commitment to interprofessional education and collaborative practice, academic institutions and health care systems are collaborating to provide quality health care education and service delivery. This kind of partnership integrates interprofessional education with clinical practice redesign and strives to create “collaboration ready” graduates in clinical learning environments. In this reflective case analysis, we describe the intentional commitment and collaboration between an academic institution and a clinical health system in the U.S. to form what the U.S. National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education calls a Nexus. The historical context and shared vision that led to the creation and evolution of the Nexus, as well as a description of the micro, meso, and macro level enabling, and interfering factors are provided.