An integrative literature review for the clinical expert transitioning to a nurse faculty role

Abstract

Background

Clinical experts with graduate academic credentials are a solution to registered nurse shortages in nursing education globally. However, expert clinician roles are without translation in academic appointments.

Purpose

Explore published evidence in an integrated literature review, identifying the categories for successful transitions from expert clinician to novice nurse faculty.

Design & method

The design is an integrative literature review of citation databases, organizations, and grey literature. Authors used search terms, nurse educat*, novice nurse educat*, mentor*, academ*, and transition to academic position. Inclusion criteria were 2018–24, English only, and peer-reviewed. The authors used Covidence™ PRISMA for analysis. Four electronic data sources were searched, including the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The authors used grey literature, organizations' websites, and citation lists of articles.

Results

Analysis of 36 relevant peer-reviewed articles, four organizational websites and grey literature resulted in the identification of five categories (Faculty Introduction to Academia, Pedagogical Approaches, Academic Freedom in Education, Academic Complexity, and Teaching Philosophy and Goals) with sub-category sources. Organizational sites contributed to knowledge about academic hierarchy, learning theories, pedagogical application to curriculum, alignment to national standards, technological skills development, and other attitudes and skills. Authors identified gaps with recommendations.

Conclusions

The study organizes published evidence to support graduate-prepared expert clinician novice faculty learning and competence essential following an academic appointment, suggesting ©Boutique Mentoring as a personal method to promote self-reflection and skill building for smooth transition in and maintenance of benchmarks in academic faculty roles.