Exploring the reasons for novice nurse educators' transition from practice to academia in Ghana.

Timothy Tienbia Laari,Philemon Adoliwine Amooba,Joseph Kuufaakang Kuunibe,Gideon Awenabisa Atanuriba,Moses Haruna Akor,Felix Apiribu,Adwoa Bemah Boamah Mensah,Timothy Gazari,Khatijah Lim Abdullah

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0258695

Abstract

There is an increasing transition rate of experienced clinical nurses from practice to academia. When nurses transition from practice to academia for the right reasons, it culminates in job satisfaction and retention. Thus, understanding what attracts clinical nurses to academia is an important consideration for employing and retaining competent nurse educators. Yet, there are gaps in research about what motivates nurses to transition from practice to academia within the Ghanaian context. This study aimed to explore the reasons for novice nurse educators' transition from practice to academia in three Health Training Institutions in the Upper East Region of Ghana. This qualitative descriptive phenomenology study used a purposive sampling method to select 12 novice nurse educators. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide through individual face-to-face in-depth interviews. Written informed consent was obtained and interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was done manually guided by Colaizzi's method of data analysis. Novice nurse educators transitioned from practice to academia because they were dissatisfied with their clinical nursing practice, they wanted more flexible work, they wanted to work autonomously, and they previously taught their clients in the clinical setting. Four themes emerged namely: (1) dissatisfied with clinical nursing, (2) quest for flexible work role, (3) quest for work autonomy, and (4) previous clinical teaching. The reasons for transitioning from practice to academia were mostly born out of novice nurse educators' previous negative experiences in the clinical setting which ought to be considered in the recruitment and retention of teaching staff to train the future nurses. There is the need to revise and implement a tutor recruitment policy that takes into account, what attracts clinical nurses to the academic setting.

Highlights

Many Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) face a serious shortage of nurses and midwives, a shortage that presents a critical constraint to the achievement of health and development goals, and scaling up educational programmes for nurses and midwives is one way to address this threat [1]
Novice nurse educators transitioned from practice to academia because they were dissatisfied with their clinical nursing practice, they wanted more flexible work, they wanted to work autonomously, and they previously taught their clients in the clinical setting
When nurses transition from the clinical setting to academia for the right reasons, it leads to job satisfaction and retention

Summary

Introduction

Programmes have been introduced for direct entry into midwifery, Health Assistant Clinical (HAC), and diploma in Community Health Nursing (CHN) programmes [4]. This policy of the MOH resulted in a 50% increase in admissions into HTIs since 2001. The strategy to increase student intake without the corresponding recruitment of teaching staff has led to academic staff vacancies in the HTIs [4] To seal these ensuing faculty vacancies, the HTI secretariat periodically recruits expert nurses at the hospital setting into various HTIs across the country as health tutors. This study aimed to explore the reasons for novice nurse educators’ transition from practice to academia in three Health Training Institutions in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion