| The current shortage of qualified nursing faculty places schools of nursing in the position of filling faculty vacancies with clinical experts such as clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) and nurse practitioners (NPs). In taking an educator position, expert clinicians face a work-role transition to the role of novice nurse educator. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the process of work-role transition of the expert nurse clinician to a novice nurse educator in a baccalaureate program. Naturalistic inquiry guided the study method of face-to-face interviewing. A purposive sample of 18 CNSs and NPs in their first or second year of full-time teaching in accredited, baccalaureate programs in the Upper Midwest served as the sample for this study. A within-case and cross-case analysis explicated patterns and categories that described and explained the work-role transition into nursing education.; Six patterns describing phases of the work-role transition from clinical expert to novice nurse educator in a baccalaureate program emerged from the data. Phases of the work-role transition included a pre-transition phase, four working phases---easing into transition, early transition, middle transition, and later transition---and a final pattern of throughout the transition. Categories of experiences within these patterns detailed the work-role transition. Internal and external factors facilitating or hindering the transition were also identified through data analysis. Additional findings included participant recommendations for orientation practices to facilitate the work-role transition. In the process of describing and explaining the work-role transition of a clinical expert to novice nurse educator, the study provided insights into the phenomenon of expert to novice, an extension of Benner's (1984) novice to expert model. Data analysis revealed two patterns---questioning and transferred knowledge/skills. A skill acquisition stage of the "experienced novice" was proposed to explicate the experience of the expert now in the position of a novice. Additionally, the study validated work-role transition attributes of (a) dynamic and developmental, (b) emotional work, (c) critical tasks, and (d) diffusion through role boundaries.; Implications for nursing education administrators and faculty are provided. Additionally, a series of questions to drive further research are offered. |
