Experiences and mentoring needs of novice nurse educators at a public nursing college in the Eastern Cape

Intent to leave academia: perceptions and challenges of nurse faculty

BACKGROUND

The shortage of nursing faculty is a significant global issue affecting the nursing profession. Faculty turnover can negatively impact the institution by decreasing the number of qualified nursing faculty and disrupting the educational process. The cost of replacing departing faculty and recruiting and training new faculty may increase.

PURPOSE

To describe perceptions of nursing faculty of intentions to leave academia and to identify challenges that contribute to nurse faculty turnover in academic setting.

METHOD

A descriptive naturalistic, qualitative approach is used to explore nurses perceptions and intentions to leave academia.

RESULTS

The themes identified were unexpected journey, with two sub-themes, lack of role clarity and lack of preparation/orientation, and work environment, with four sub-themes: low Salary, workload, lack of support and favoritism.

CONCLUSION

The urgency of addressing the factors that contribute to nurse faculty intending to leave academia cannot be overstated. The results of this study have direct implications for nursing schools' administrators, where these findings can provide them with, valuable insights that they can be used to implement best practices and mitigate the problem of nursing faculty turnover.

The Effects of Structured Mentorship and Onboarding of Novice Nursing Faculty

BACKGROUND

The United States currently is experiencing a nursing faculty shortage that greatly affects the number of nurses entering professional practice. Nurse faculty transitioning from clinical practice to academia face challenges that may have negative effects on job satisfaction and feelings of competence. Despite barriers, quality nursing faculty are needed.

METHOD

This quality improvement project evaluated the effects of an 8-week structured onboarding mentorship on novice nursing faculty's job satisfaction and feelings of competence. Novice faculty were paired with a mentor and completed weekly meetings and an online on-boarding curriculum based on National League for Nursing Nurse Educator Core Competencies. A pretest-posttest design assessed feelings of competence and job satisfaction before and after the 8-week intervention.

RESULTS

Findings indicated increased feelings of competence and no change in job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Outcomes demonstrate how mentorship and structured orientation can positively benefit novice faculty's experiences and competence during their transition into academia. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(6):405-408.].

Career Satisfaction and Advancement Related to Mentorship Experiences of Underrepresented Nursing Faculty

AIM

This study aimed to describe the perceived impact of mentorship on career satisfaction and advancement for underrepresented nursing faculty.

BACKGROUND

Mentoring contributes to career development through a continuous learning process and support for role development.

METHOD

Fifteen underrepresented nurse faculty in academia comprised the sample for this qualitative phenomenological study.

RESULTS

Themes of career advancement and satisfaction related to mentorship included personal and professional growth, retention, lost opportunities, isolation, and multilayered mentoring.

CONCLUSION

Results of this study may be used to support the development of multilayered mentorship programs to meet the unique needs of underrepresented nurse faculty and improve diversity in nursing education.

A needs assessment for competency development of nurse educators

OBJECTIVE

The purposes of this study were to assess the current competencies and desired competency development of nurse educators and to examine differences in how they ranked their needs by participants' gender, age, educational qualification, and work experience.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study. Participants were 435 nurse educators working at nursing colleges under the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, in 2021.

RESULTS

Participants had significantly higher desired scores for competency development than the actual condition scores (p < .05). They prioritized their competence development needs from highest to lowest scores as follows: (1) nursing knowledge, (2) teaching pedagogy, (3) learning activities preparation, (4) professional value, (5) learning atmosphere building, (6) educator professional ethics, (7) learning outcomes measures, and (8) learning plan. Participants with different gender, education levels, ages, and work experiences set similar priorities for competency development needs.

CONCLUSION

Nurse educators first emphasized knowledge and teaching skills improvement, followed by enhancing value. However, their needs were not different when categorized by gender, age, educational qualification, and work experience. Therefore, planning to develop all competencies is urged and prioritized. Similarly, future research should explore suitable competency development programs for these nurse educators in each area. Our study's findings could be an example applied to other nursing schools worldwide to improve nurse educators' competencies.

Easing the transition from nurse clinician to nurse educator in Ghana: Exploring novice nurse educators' perspectives

AIM

To explore novice nurse educators' perspectives on easing the transition from nurse clinician to nurse educator in Ghana.

DESIGN

A descriptive qualitative study.

METHODS

In total, 12 novice nurse educators (NNEs) were recruited from three health training institutions in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Between June and August 2020, individual in-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed manually using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Four themes emerged: mentoring, orientation to educator role, pedagogical preparation and postgraduate studies. To ease the transition, NNEs stressed on developing individual mentoring programmes to mentor novices before they start to teach. They endorsed the development of college-specific orientation programmes to orientate novices before they assume full teaching roles. Participants also urged nurse clinicians to obtain pedagogical preparation and postgraduate degree before moving into academia or immediately after being employed.

A phenomenographic study exploring the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education

BACKGROUND

Nursing education involves a number of stakeholders in the teaching and learning process, and these are student nurses, lecturers, clinical instructors and nurses. The role that each of these parties play in the teaching and learning process is dependent on each other and is key to the development of competence among student nurses. However, there is scanty literature on the discourse of how these stakeholders conceptualise their roles to maximise student learning. The objective of this study was to explore the conceptions of stakeholders on their teaching and learning roles in nursing education.

METHODS

Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with nursing students, lecturers, clinical educators at a Namibian nursing college and nurses at teaching hospitals. Phenomenographic data analysis approach was applied.

RESULTS

Four conceptions were constructed that described the level of involvement of the different parties in teaching and learning. These were initiating, supporting, becoming part of and owning the teaching and learning role. Three dimensions of variation marked the differences among the conceptions: responsibility and accountability, priorities and level of collaboration.

CONCLUSIONS

The parties involved in the teaching and learning in nursing education have qualitatively different understating of their roles and those of others. There is a pattern transcending from being at the periphery of teaching and learning to taking ownership of teaching and learning. And a movement from limited responsibility and collaboration to that of being responsible, accountable and high level of collaboration in the teaching and learning of nursing students. The conceptions in this study add more ways of enhancing collaboration between theoretical and clinical sites in nursing education, by ensuring that those involved are aware of their role and that of others and work collaboratively at the micro-level.

The experience of novice nurse faculty in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES

To understand the experience of novice nurse faculty members in Saudi Arabia and the influences on novice nurse graduates in their academic role.

METHODS

A qualitative descriptive study grounded in naturalistic inquiry was used to better understand the experience of novice faculty in Saudi Arabia. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 10 novice nurse faculty from nursing schools in Saudi universities. Data were collected until saturation was achieved. The researcher interviewed participants using a video conferencing platform, and all interviews were digitally audio-recorded. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

There were four major themes: teaching on a peninsula, navigating in the dark, grappling with the faculty role, and working hard to create hope for a better tomorrow.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings add to the literature regarding the novice faculty experience, self-confidence, and the strategies needed to enhance their teaching performance.

Exploring the reasons for novice nurse educators' transition from practice to academia in Ghana

Background

There is an increasing transition rate of experienced clinical nurses from practice to academia. When nurses transition from practice to academia for the right reasons, it culminates in job satisfaction and retention. Thus, understanding what attracts clinical nurses to academia is an important consideration for employing and retaining competent nurse educators. Yet, there are gaps in research about what motivates nurses to transition from practice to academia within the Ghanaian context. This study aimed to explore the reasons for novice nurse educators’ transition from practice to academia in three Health Training Institutions in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

Methods

This qualitative descriptive phenomenology study used a purposive sampling method to select 12 novice nurse educators. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide through individual face-to-face in-depth interviews. Written informed consent was obtained and interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was done manually guided by Colaizzi’s method of data analysis.

Results

Novice nurse educators transitioned from practice to academia because they were dissatisfied with their clinical nursing practice, they wanted more flexible work, they wanted to work autonomously, and they previously taught their clients in the clinical setting. Four themes emerged namely: (1) dissatisfied with clinical nursing, (2) quest for flexible work role, (3) quest for work autonomy, and (4) previous clinical teaching.

Conclusion

The reasons for transitioning from practice to academia were mostly born out of novice nurse educators’ previous negative experiences in the clinical setting which ought to be considered in the recruitment and retention of teaching staff to train the future nurses. There is the need to revise and implement a tutor recruitment policy that takes into account, what attracts clinical nurses to the academic setting.