A request to join in on a project was sent to me by a physician, with the following description: We will co-author a paper on "...how the different pathways of preparation of nurses, doctors and administrators may influence our behaviors later on."

Immediately the language of the request caused all sorts of problems within my organization, and I almost wasn't allowed to take part.

What would this mean to you? It was interesting how the take on those few words were so different to several different people.

I'd translate the first part of that as meaning "how the different methods of training physicians, nurses and administrators..."

The second part is rather woolly; "may influence the way we do our jobs"? Perhaps it is intended to mean "may influence the way our jobs interact"?

Yes, arnie, that was exactly how people in my organization took it. Since we are neutral to the different educational pathways, they didn't think it would be a good idea to take part in the writing.

However, when I talked to the other collaborators, in fact we will be looking at the context of our work, the collective tasks that we do, and the individual uniquenesses of the different professions, from the perspective of nursing, medicine and administration.

On our conference call we discussed how the language that was used had almost derailed the project. To me there is little relationship between what we will actually be doing and that original correspondence.

I'm so glad you're giving the project a chance. So often, when misunderstandings occur, people just avoid all interaction rather than seeking common ground. It would have been a pity if this had caused a greater rift in the relations between your professions.

Actually, CW, the project is up to my boss. I sent her an e-mail and am waiting to hear from her. Sometimes I think she sees me as a loose cannon who will have such grand and glorious ideas as to put our place out of business! So, I don't know if she will allow our participation. However, in the meantime, I am doing the work.