Easing the Transition From Clinician to Nurse Educator: An Integrative Literature Review

BACKGROUND: Experienced clinicians who choose to become academic nurse educators bring to their new faculty role strong clinical skills and a desire to influence the next generation of nurses. However, many find themselves unprepared for the challenges they encounter. Intentional mentoring is needed to ease their transition from clinician to nurse educator. METHOD: An integrative literature review was conducted to identify the essential components of a comprehensive mentoring program to facilitate a positive transition experience from expert clinician to novice nursing faculty. Searches were conducted of the ProQuest Central and CINAHL databases for peer-reviewed articles. RESULTS: A review of 17 publications and seven Web sites identified formal preparation for teaching, guidance navigating the academic culture, and a structured mentoring program as essential to clinicians' successful transition to academic nursing faculty. CONCLUSION: Sustainable mentoring programs require recognition of mentoring as central to nursing education and administrative investment of resources.