Harnessing the potential of your digital collaborations

Abstract

During your time as a nursing student and beyond, you will undoubtedly engage in digital collaborations, both academically and within clinical practice. This goes beyond the use of electronic patient records and emailing colleagues to include those tools discussed earlier in this book, such as cloud-based platforms for sharing documents and video conferencing software to converse with colleagues and patients. This chapter focuses on working together in virtual spaces, both for the benefit of patients, and for your own personal and professional development. Using case studies and scenarios as illustrations, we discuss the benefits of digital collaborations to help you recognise the potential opportunities
presented by working together in virtual spaces. The concept of e-professionalism within the context of your digital collaborations will also be explored towards the end of this chapter, some potential ‘digital dilemmas’ supporting you to navigate the potential challenges and issues that you might encounter while collaborating with others online.