Positive Transition Experiences of Clinical Nurses Moving Into Academia: A Qualitative Study

The international nursing shortage has affected clinical nursing positions and nursing faculty alike. To fill vacant nursing faculty positions, clinical nurses have, in some instances, been encouraged to enter academia despite a lack of experience for the role. Transitioning to the nursing faculty role from clinical nursing has been suggested in the literature to be a stressful and difficult process. The problem addressed in this basic qualitative study was how do clinical nurses who have transitioned to the nursing faculty role describe the positive experiences that led to a successful transition. The sample contained eight nursing faculty members who successfully transitioned to the faculty role within the last three years. Participants in the study were employed in baccalaureate nursing programs located within the northeastern United States. Data were collected from semi structured interviews. Data analysis consisted of the constant comparative method in the discovery of four common themes: mentoring and support, collaboration, camaraderie, and the positive aspects of the nursing faculty role. Mentoring and support enabled the professionalization to the new role. Collaboration with experienced faculty members allowed the novice to concentrate on other matters of course management rather than course development. Camaraderie assisted the transitioning faculty member to socialize to the academic role. The positive aspects of the nursing faculty role, especially flexibility in scheduling, outweighed any negative feelings surrounding the transition. The findings have implications for the nursing faculty role and for nursing faculty departments in terms of providing mentoring programs for newly hired faculty members. Providing mentoring and support for novice nursing faculty members may lead to retention in the faculty role. Recommendations for future research include a mixed methodology to determine the perceptions of the transitioning faculty members and also including a more diverse sample.