From Practice to Teaching [microform] : the Experiences of New Nurse Educators

📖 The Scoop

Based on the results of this study, suggestions are made regarding support that might help new nursing teachers to effectively use their knowledge of clinical practice in their teaching and to ease their way as they move from practice to teaching. Further research into the way in which novice teachers reflect and research on new teachers that includes participant observation are called for. North America faces a shortage of nurses and a coexisting shortage of teachers of nursing, problems with enormous implications for the health care system. The literature in nursing education has called for the development of strategies to attract more nurses to teaching and for appropriate preparation for those entering the field of nursing education. Currently, many nurses are hired to teach based on their extensive clinical backgrounds and do not feel prepared to take on the role of nurse educator. This qualitative study focused on the experiences of eight nurses, all but one of whom were hired part-time, who were making the transition from clinical practice to teaching. The purpose of the study was to learn what these novice educators believed they brought with them from nursing practice that would facilitate their transition to teaching, what their experiences were like, and whether through the course of their first teaching semester these novices were able to draw on their nursing to facilitate their transition to nursing education. Study results show that each of the eight beginning teachers made the transition to teaching relatively smoothly in terms of settling in to their new roles in new institutions, learning to teach, and actually teaching. The theme that emerged from the data was use of self through three frames: past life experiences, caring as nurses, and nursing knowledge and experience. Novice teachers experienced difficulty with their roles when they did not experience being cared for as teachers, and when they perceived their practical knowledge to be lacking.

Genre: No Category (fancy, right?)