Research Project
The Lived Experience of Novice Part-time Clinical Nursing Faculty: Experiences of New Clinical Faculty
- Principal Investigator
- McPherson, Sara
- Start Date
- 2021-06-09
- End Date
- 2022-06-30
- Funding Source
- IL Nurses Foundation
Abstract
In the United States, there is not only a nursing shortage, but a nursing faculty shortage. The lack of nursing faculty prevents programs from increasing enrollments, leading to nursing programs turning away qualified students. One challenge nursing programs face is recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified nursing faculty. To fill this void, many programs hire part-time/adjunct faculty in particular to cover crucial clinical teaching vacancies Faculty hired into this role are often clinical experts who come into the position without formal education on how to teach. In many cases, these part-time/adjunct faculty do not understand the requirements, complexity and rigor involved in clinical teaching in academia. Little is known about what it is like for part-time faculty to assume the role of clinical instructor in schools and colleges of nursing. The purpose of this study is to learn from novice clinical as faculty what it is like to provide clinical supervision of students during faculty’s first year or two of teaching.