Nursing town and nursing gown: time, space, and the reinvention of nursing through collaboration.

Abstract

This paper argues that nursing can reinvent itself through collaboration between the clinical domain and the university and that this reinvention requires new ways of thinking about the relationship between town and gown. The paper analyzes the metaphor of the town/gown distinction and the constitution of time and space and their changing interrelationship. It offers a description of the learning environment of collaboration, which identifies some of the challenges that face nursing in each area. It then presents a way of envisioning the reinvention of nursing in this context, which will facilitate learning.