Strategies for Reducing Conflicts between Nursing Service and Nursing Education

Abstract

THERE are those who maintain that there is no such thing as service-education conflicts "because we all share the same aims." I regard this as "head in the sand" thinking. The practitioners and educators who maintain that they do not have conflicts more than likely are making unsafe assumptions about their counterparts and/or have never asked their counterparts what are some of the major areas of tension. In trying to think of strategies for reducing service-education conflicts and increasing compatibilities, I've tried to think of practical approaches rather than fundamental principles as such, but there is one principle underlying this address: that we are and will be operating in a changing environment for the rest of all time, and that we will, even if we "progress," progress from one set of problems to another. I think that often we are disheartened and disillusioned by the feeling that we are not getting any place, and some of us function under the illusion that if we work hard enough and fast enough that, ultimately, everything will be running smoothly. That is unrealistic: our approaches to problem solving would be much more functional if we would accept the basic notion of change.