The transition experience of the certified registered nurse anesthetist from clinical expert to novice educator

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Christine M. Bazik Kress (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Lynne Lewallen

Abstract: American nursing programs have cited faculty shortages as the primary reason for turning away qualified applicants, with the greatest number of faculty vacancies noted in graduate programs. The shortage of qualified nursing faculty can be connected to nurse shortages in the clinical area, which may impact the quality of patient care. Furthermore, nationwide, Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) programs are transitioning from master’s level preparation to the Doctor of Nursing Practice and require doctorally prepared faculty. This is of particular importance for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia (CRNA) programs that mandate qualified CRNAs teach all anesthesia content. The goal of this study was to explore the transition experience of CRNAs from clinical practice to academia to understand factors impacting this transition. Schlossberg’s (1981) transition theory was used to guide this study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from seven participants across the United States via telephone interviews. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method was used to guide the analysis of the data. One super-ordinate theme, identity amalgamation, and three nested themes, establishing credibility with students and peers, making a mark, and overcoming the organizational hump, emerged. The findings from this study show that the transition experience for CRNAs from clinical practice to academia is not drastically different from the transition experience of other nursing faculty. One unique finding was the importance of the role of professional involvement in the transition experience of CRNAs. Future research should aim to compare the experience of new faculty in other APN specialties, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of mentor and orientation programs to ease new faculty transition.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2020
Keywords
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Educator, Nursing, Transition
Subjects
Nursing $x Study and teaching
Anesthesiology $x Study and teaching
Nursing schools $x Faculty
Nurse educators

Email this document to