In the ever-changing healthcare environment, nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners are uniquely positioned to impact clinical practice, patient outcomes, and interdisciplinary professional growth and development. While formal education and professional preparation provide a foundation for practice, some of the most valuable lessons are learned through experience. Early in my work as an NPD practitioner supporting a transfer center, I came to recognize the importance of collaboration. For NPD practitioners working in highly specialized environments such as transfer centers, educational and professional development efforts can easily become isolated. Recognizing the limitations of working in isolation became a catalyst for innovation, creating opportunities to reimagine practice, forge meaningful collaborations, and develop new solutions to shared challenges.

Identifying the Gap

Transfer centers serve as essential access points that facilitate patient movement across hospitals, healthcare systems, specialty care areas, and geographic zones. Recent literature has described the complexity of transfer center nursing, emphasizing communication expertise, role clarity, and robust knowledge required to support interfacility logistics (Saucke et al., 2023). Despite their complexity and strategic necessity, the educational infrastructure supporting transfer center teams has historically been fragmented. NPD practitioners in this environment often function independently and are responsible for onboarding, competency creation, role development, and continuing education.

In my NPD role supporting a transfer center, I quickly recognized the challenges of serving as the sole NPD practitioner in a highly specialized practice environment. Few resources addressed the unique educational needs of transfer center clinicians, and there was limited literature, role-specific guidance, or established best practices to inform program development. As a result, educational infrastructure was built largely through local needs assessments, collaboration with operational leaders and frontline teammates, adaptation of principles from established NPD practice, and ongoing evaluation of team needs. Competency frameworks, onboarding practices, and professional development strategies commonly used in other nursing specialties were adapted and tailored to meet the unique needs of transfer center clinicians. These efforts resulted in meaningful local successes, including a structured onboarding program, role-specific competencies, and continuing professional development opportunities.

As these initiatives matured, it became apparent that many of the challenges I encountered were likely not unique to my organization. Despite investing significant time and effort to create resources locally, there were few opportunities to connect with NPD practitioners in similar practice environments, share lessons learned, or identify existing resources that could be adapted rather than re-created. This experience reflected concerns in the literature that NPD initiatives often develop in silos, limiting opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing across organizations (Forcina et al., 2023).

This realization prompted several questions: Were other NPD practitioners in highly specialized environments facing similar challenges? How were they developing their teams? What resources or best practices already existed that could be adapted rather than built from the ground up?

These questions highlighted a clear professional gap: while transfer center clinicians benefited from specialized educational programming, few opportunities existed for NPD practitioners in these settings to collaborate, share resources, and leverage collective expertise across organizations.

The Perspective Shift

Initially, my efforts focused on developing internal processes, resources, and educational programs to support transfer center practice. Recognizing the limitations of working in a highly specialized environment, I intentionally sought opportunities to connect with other NPD practitioners through professional organizations, enterprise networks, conferences, and informal mentoring relationships. These interactions expanded my professional network beyond my local practice setting and provided opportunities to exchange ideas with NPD practitioners working in similarly specialized environments.

Through networking, mentorship, and professional dialogue, I recognized that many of the challenges encountered in transfer center education were shared across organizations. NPD practitioners across a variety of specialized and indirect care settings were navigating similar gaps in resources, specialty-specific guidance, and educational infrastructure.  This revelation created a perspective shift, from viewing education and development as a localized responsibility to imagining it as a coordinated opportunity for collaboration.

This aligns with the NPD practice model, which highlights not only role-specific competencies but the necessity of collaboration, partnership, and systems thinking as essential components of professional  practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022). It also reflects Standard 11: Collaboration in the Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice, which calls upon NPD practitioners to cultivate strategic partnerships, facilitate knowledge sharing, and engage stakeholders to advance practice and improve outcomes. By intentionally building relationships with educators, operational leaders, and subject matter experts across organizations, opportunities emerged to leverage collective expertise rather than develop solutions independently. Collaboration was no longer viewed as a supplement to practice, but as a strategic imperative to advancing educational and professional development efforts within specialized practice environments.

Developing a National Transfer Center Community

Recognizing the need for broader collaboration, I shifted my focus toward intentionally building connections among professionals supporting transfer center educator and development. This collaborative effort evolved into the National Transfer Center Educators’ Group (NTCE), a growing community of NPD practitioners, educators, and transfer center leaders from organizations across the United States. To identify potential collaborators, I leveraged national transfer center leadership networks, existing professional relationships, and professional platforms such as LinkedIn. I contacted transfer center leaders to identify educators within their organizations and invited leaders responsible for educational and professional development activities to participate directly. What began as a professional connection with a single peer expanded into a national network dedicated to advancing transfer center education and professional development.

The development of NTCE was intentionally aligned with the NPD Practice Model and designed to support educators in fulfilling the seven roles of the NPD practitioner within their respective organizations and practice environments (Harper & Maloney, 2022). Through the exchange of knowledge, resources, and professional experiences, members strengthened their ability to function as:

• Learning facilitators
• Mentors
• Change agents
• Leaders
• Partners in practice transitions
• Champions for scientific inquiry
• Advocates for specialty nursing practice

The group provided a forum for discussing educational strategies, competency development, onboarding practices, professional development initiatives, evidence-informed approaches to practice, and opportunities for innovation within transfer center environments. By connecting practitioners facing similar challenges across organizations, NTCE fostered collaboration and knowledge sharing while supporting members in advancing educational and professional development efforts within their local settings.

This approach is supported by literature demonstrating that communities of practice and professional networks facilitate knowledge sharing, reduce duplication of effort, support collective problem-solving, and promote innovation through the exchange of diverse perspectives and experiences (Beaudet et al., 2023). For NPD practitioners working in highly specialized practice settings, these collaborative structures provide opportunities to access expertise, share resources, and advance practice in ways that may be difficult to achieve independently.

To support ongoing engagement, I established quarterly virtual meetings and invited participants to contribute agenda topics that reflected current challenges and emerging needs within their organizations. As of this writing, NTCE includes 10 active participants representing transfer centers from healthcare systems across the United States. Membership growth occurred through professional networking, referrals from transfer center leaders, and outreach to educators and operational leaders responsible for educational and professional development activities.

Meetings are facilitated by the group founder and provide a structured forum for discussion, resource sharing, and collaborative problem-solving. Over time, the group developed a culture of trust, mutual respect, and shared purpose through consistent engagement, open dialogue, and a commitment to collective learning. This psychologically safe environment allows participants to openly discuss challenges, seek feedback, share innovative practices, and explore opportunities for dissemination without concern for organizational competition. As a result, NTCE has evolved into a sustainable community of practice that supports ongoing professional connection and knowledge sharing among NPD practitioners working in highly specialized environments (Beaudet et al., 2023).

Collaboration Impact

The outcomes of this collaborative effort have been both measurable and meaningful, demonstrating alignment with several roles outlined in the NPD Scope and Standards and the NPD Practice Model, particularly the learning facilitator, leader, change agent, and advocate for NPD practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022). Through collaboration, NPD practitioners were able to leverage collective expertise, share resources, and address common challenges across organizations rather than developing solutions independently.

Improved Efficiency and Resource Management

One of the most immediate outcomes was the reduction of duplicated effort across participating organizations. Rather than independently creating similar resources, members have shared educational resources, competency frameworks, competency planning milestones, virtual nursing competency tools, and professional practice gap-tracking resources that could be adapted to local practice environments. This collaborative approach has accelerated program development and reduced the time required to establish educational infrastructure within specialized transfer center environments.

Promotion of Evidence-Based Practices

NTCE also supported the champion for scientific inquiry and educator roles by creating opportunities to identify and disseminate emerging practices, evidence-informed resources, and innovative approaches to transfer center education. Collaborative work resulted in the development of a national transfer center educational needs assessment, the sharing of onboarding and competency management resources, and contributions to specialty nursing certification preparation through co-authorship of the Certified Ambulatory and Virtual Care Nursing (CAVRN) study guide. The group also facilitated the development of transfer center educational infrastructure across multiple organizations and supported the establishment of dedicated educator roles within transfer centers, extending the reach of NPD practice into previously underserved specialty environments.

Expansion of Educational Access

Consistent with the learning facilitator role, collaboration expanded access to transfer center–specific education offerings at the national level. Access to role-specific content is essential for high-quality patient outcomes (Mlambo et al., 2021; Yuet et al., 2022).

Through shared expertise and professional networks, live virtual educational programs were developed and made available to transfer center teammates across five transfer centers within my organization as well as transfer center from other healthcare systems throughout the United States. These offerings included subject matter expert presentations, specialty-focused educational sessions, and recorded learning opportunities that provide nursing, EMS, and respiratory therapy continuing education credit. The growing reach of these programs demonstrated the value of collaborative educational design and interprofessional learning within specialized practice settings.

Professional Growth and Role Development

Beyond educational offerings, collaboration supported professional growth and specialty advancement at the organizational and national levels. Through shared experiences and collective problem-solving, members exchanged strategies related to clinical advancement program inclusion, competency management, leadership development, certification support, and workforce development initiatives. These discussions contributed to the creation of new educator roles, increased visibility of transfer center nursing as a specialty practice area, and strengthened the professional identity of NPD practitioners working in highly specialized environments.

Perhaps most importantly, NTCE fostered a sense of community among practitioners who had historically worked in isolation. Members reported increased confidence, stronger professional identity, and heightened engagement in their NPD roles. These outcomes align with literature demonstrating that communities of practice strengthen professional connectedness, facilitate knowledge exchange, and enhance professional effectiveness through ongoing peer support and collaboration (Beaudet et al., 2023).

Impact on Local Practice

At the organizational level, insights gained through collaboration informed the continued expansion of transfer center educational infrastructure. Collaborative learning contributed to the establishment of clinical advancement pathways, the implementation of three consecutive years of role-specific annual competency programming, the creation of a leadership development initiative, and the establishment of a community college partnership designed to create an EMT workforce pipeline. In 2025 alone, more than 29 contact-hour educational opportunities were offered to transfer center teammates.

These efforts were associated with measurable improvements in professional development outcomes. Nursing specialty board certification attainment increased by 41%, and teammate self-reported scores related to having the tools, resources, and knowledge necessary to perform their role increased by 34.6%, exceeding the national benchmark for comparable units by 17.4%. Together, these outcomes illustrate the potential impact of collaboration as a strategy for advancing educational infrastructure, professional development, and specialty practice within highly specialized healthcare environments.

Lessons Learned

 The development of the NTCE Group has reinforced several lessons that have shaped my approach to NPD practice and may be valuable to other NPD practitioners working in highly specialized environments.

• Collaboration Requires Intention: Collaboration rarely occurs by chance. Building and sustaining meaningful professional networks requires intentional planning, structure, consistency, and shared purpose. Establishing recurring meeting schedules, soliciting agenda topics from participants, and maintaining a focus on common professional challenges helped create value for members and supported ongoing engagement. These structures transformed networking from a series of informal conversations into a sustainable community of practice.
• The Need for Psychological Safety: Perhaps the most important lesson involved the role of psychological safety in sustaining collaboration. Establishing clear expectations around mutual respect, confidentiality, and collective learning helped cultivate trust among members representing diverse healthcare systems. Participants were encouraged to openly discuss challenges, share resources, seek feedback, and describe unsuccessful initiatives without fear of judgment or organizational comparison. As trust developed, members became increasingly willing to share innovative practices, discuss vulnerabilities in their educational programs, and request support from colleagues facing similar challenges. This openness accelerated learning, strengthened professional relationships, and fostered a culture of shared problem-solving.
• Systems Thinking Drives Innovation: Engaging with NPD practitioners from multiple organizations expanded perspectives beyond local operational challenges and encouraged systems-level thinking. What initially appeared to be organization-specific challenges often reflected broader issues shared across transfer centers nationwide, including onboarding, competency development, certification support, role clarity, and professional growth. Exposure to diverse organizational structures, educational models, and workforce development strategies allowed members to recognize patterns, identify shared barriers, and explore solutions that could be adapted across settings. Viewing these challenges through a broader systems lens reduced duplication of effort, promoted the dissemination of effective practices, and fostered innovation. Rather than creating solutions independently, members were able to leverage collective expertise to address shared educational needs and strengthen specialty practice on a broader scale.

Impact on Nursing Professional Development

The foundation of the NTCE Group emphasizes a broader opportunity for NPD practitioners to expand collaboration beyond enterprise boundaries and into national or specialty networks. As healthcare becomes increasingly complex, the essential nature of collaborative educational methodologies and nurse-led innovation becomes more apparent (Forcina et al., 2023). This work demonstrates alignment with several standards outlined in the Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022), particularly Standard 11: Collaboration through the establishment of strategic partnerships and knowledge-sharing networks; Standard 12: Leadership through efforts to influence practice and advance specialty nursing professional development; and Standard 13: Education through the development, dissemination, and sharing of specialty-specific educational resources and learning opportunities. The ongoing evaluation of educational initiatives, adaptation of resources across organizations, and application of shared best practices further reflect a commitment to advancing NPD practice. Most importantly, this experience reinforced that collaboration is not simply a professional activity, but a strategic competency that enables NPD practitioners to advance practice, share expertise, and address complex educational challenges that extend beyond any single organization.

Conclusion

The lesson of collaboration is one that is evolving and increasing in necessity. What began as a search for connection with other NPD practitioners working in highly specialized environments evolved into a national community of practice dedicated to advancing transfer center education and professional development. Through the intentional exchange of knowledge, resources, and expertise, NPD practitioners were able to address shared challenges, strengthen educational infrastructure, and advance specialty practice in ways that would have been difficult to accomplish independently. The implications for NPD are clear: progress, innovation, and meaningful impact are not created in isolation. Through strategic, purposeful collaboration, we can enhance our practice and support our teams and patients more effectively. 

In an increasingly complex healthcare environment, collaboration is not just beneficial, it is a necessity. By demonstrating collaboration, NPD practitioners can lead innovative and purposeful changes that extend far beyond organizational lines.

References

Beaudet, O. M., Pesut, D. J., & Lemberger, O. A. (2023). The ANA innovation engine: Activating innovation through education and communities of practice. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol28No02Man03

Forcina, J., Zomorodi, M., Morgan, L., & Barrington, N. (2023). Demonstrating a nurse-driven model for interprofessional academic-practice partnerships. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol28No02ST02

Harper, M. G., & Maloney, P. (2022). Nursing professional development: Scope and standards of practice (4th ed.). Association for Nursing Professional Development.

Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing professional development: A metasynthesis of the literature. BMC Nursing, 20(1), Article 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2

Saucke, M. C., Fernandes-Taylor, S., Alagoz, E., Arroyo, N., & Ingraham, A. M. (2023). The invisible work of transfer centre nurses: A qualitative study of strategies to overcome communication challenges. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 79(7), 2539–2552. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15603

Yu, X., Huang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2022). Nurses’ perceptions of continuing professional development: A qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 21(1), Article 162. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-022-00940-z