title: Oncology nurses' experience of collaboration: A case study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Changes in the health system have created new models of healthcare delivery such as nurse-led teams. This has resulted in the increased opportunity for enhanced collaboration among nurses. Oncology nurses have a long history of working together, yet little is known about their perceptions about collaboration in the practice setting. This paper aimed to explore and describe the experiences of collaboration among oncology nurses, and to understand the factors that influenced collaboration.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative, case study design was used to study fourteen oncology nurses from one cancer center in Canada. Participants were registered nurses or nurse practitioners, employed full-time or permanent part-time in an oncology nurse role, and working on an in-patient or out-patient unit. Data were collected in 2013 using individual telephone interviews and document reviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thematic analysis revealed two themes: Art of dancing together, and the stumbling point. The first theme related to the facilitators of collaboration including having: regular face-to-face interaction, an existing and/or previous relationship, oncology nursing experience, and good interpersonal skills. The second theme related to the barriers to collaboration such as: role ambiguity, organizational leadership, and multi-generational differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collaboration is a complex process that does not occur spontaneously. To improve collaboration nursing leadership needs to support and promote opportunities for nurses to build the relationships required to effectively collaborate. It is equally important that individual nurses be willing to collaborate and possess the interpersonal skills required to build and maintain the collaborative relationship despite differences in age, generation, and clinical experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, Canada. Electronic address: jane.moore@brocku.ca.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, Canada. Electronic address: dprentice@brocku.ca.
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prentice
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002170:Canada; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing*; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration; D015399:Nursing Research; D009746:Nursing, Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care
keywords: Case study design; Leadership; Nurse–nurse collaboration; Oncology; Qualitative research