Strategies Adopted by Novice Nurse Educators to Facilitate Their Transition From Practice to Academia: A Qualitative Study in Ghana

Abstract

Introduction The successful transition of nurses from clinical practice to academia is essential to the training of a proficient future nursing workforce. However, deprived of requisite support and guidance, novice nurse educators often find the transition from bedside nursing practice to the classroom challenging and hence, adopt some coping strategies to facilitate their transition. Yet, little is known about the strategies adopted by Ghanaian novice nurse educators to facilitate their transition. Objective This study explored the strategies adopted by novice nurse educators to facilitate their transition from practice to academia in three nursing training colleges in Ghana. Methods This study adopted a descriptive qualitative study design. The study used a purposive sampling technique to recruit 12 novice nurse educators. Data were generated through individual in-depth interviews using a semistructured interview guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed manually through thematic analysis. Results Novice nurse educators adopted a wide range of strategies to facilitate their transition from practice to academia. Four major themes emerged: (1) seeking support from peers, (2) attending workshops and conferences, (3) relying on performance appraisal and feedback, and (4) applying past clinical nursing knowledge. Conclusion The strategies adopted to facilitate the transition were mostly self-inspired and informal, which calls for more formal and evidence-based strategies to facilitate the transition process. College authorities must create, or adopt and modify faculty mentorship models to mentor novice nurse educators, develop and implement college-specific orientation programmes for novice nurse educators, and implement regular online tutor appraisals by students.

Transistion from clinical practitioner to academic educator: the experiences of radiography lecturers in Nigeria

“…From the responses from respondents, there are numerous challenges encountered by clinical radiography as they transited to academic educators. These were collaborated by many other resaech findings and include but not limited to rigorous research activities (Thompson and Taylor, 2020), most conferences and workshops were self-sponsored (Laari et al, 2021), involvement in academic activities, poor working conditions, that being an academic educator does not give more time to spend with their family and reduction of salary earned by a clinical radiographer who transits to be an academic educator. This agrees with the finding by Laari et al (2021) deprived of requisite support and guidance, novice nurse educators often find the transition from Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología.…”

Transition From Clinical Practitioner to Academic Educator: The Experiences of Radiography Lecturers in Nigeria

“…From the responses from respondents, there are numerous challenges encountered by clinical radiography as they transited to academic educators. These were collaborated by many other resaech findings and include but not limited to rigorous research activities (Thompson and Taylor, 2020), most conferences and workshops were self-sponsored (Laari et al, 2021), involvement in academic activities, poor working conditions, that being an academic educator does not give more time to spend with their family and reduction of salary earned by a clinical radiographer who transits to be an academic educator. This agrees with the finding by Laari et al (2021) who reported that workshops and conferences help build their confidences and eases to academic educator despite been self-sponsor, which is in line with the study.…”

“…These were collaborated by many other resaech findings and include but not limited to rigorous research activities (Thompson and Taylor, 2020), most conferences and workshops were self-sponsored (Laari et al, 2021), involvement in academic activities, poor working conditions, that being an academic educator does not give more time to spend with their family and reduction of salary earned by a clinical radiographer who transits to be an academic educator. This agrees with the finding by Laari et al (2021) who reported that workshops and conferences help build their confidences and eases to academic educator despite been self-sponsor, which is in line with the study.…”

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

“…However, transitional support programmes and interventions are mostly in the developed countries (Nowell et al, 2017 ; Shieh & Cullen, 2019 ) with little emphasis placed on interventions required to ease the transition in Africa (Seekoe, 2016 ; Sodidi & Jardien‐Baboo, 2020 ). In the Ghanaian context, the situation is no different and often results in difficult and stressful transitions (Laari, Apiribu, Gazari, et al, 2021 ). The absence thereof and inadequate transition support programmes also deepen the challenge of suboptimal teaching competencies in this novice population of nurse educators (Heydari et al, 2015 ).…”

“…In Ghana, nurse educators are usually recruited from the clinical setting and posted to HTIs to teach (Laari, Apiribu, Amooba, et al, 2021 ). However, the absence of transition support programmes coupled with failure to meet the WHO requirements for nurse educators makes the transition more difficult (Laari, Apiribu, Gazari, et al, 2021 ). Hence, it is imperative to explore NNEs' perspectives on easing the transition from nurse clinician to nurse educator in Ghana.…”