Overview and Summary: Professional Pathways in Nursing: Options to Seek, Start, and Sustain a Career

Abstract

Citation: Donley, R., & Flaherty, M.J. (September 30, 2008) and Summary: Professional Pathways in Nursing: Options to Seek, Start and Sustain a Career OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol 13 No 3, Overview and Summary. Available: www.NursingWorld.org//MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/vol132008/No3Sept08/Overview.aspx This OJIN topic looks at the varied career patterns in nursing education and practice across time and across cultures. If readers of OJIN were to Google 'career ladders, they would find websites describing a multitude of workplace and career advancement programs, and, in the case of nursing careers, programs such as clinical ladders. These programs of upper mobility are now used as recruitment strategies in nursing. Raines and Taglareni give a snapshot of contemporary entry points into professional nursing in an era where further articulation is a fact of career planning and academic life. Their article presents a detailed and comprehensive discussion of the many entry gates and progression modes that are currently available in the United States (US). It provides an overview of the various nursing programs from beginning levels of practice to advanced practice models. Raines and Taglareni discuss the use of creative approaches to recruit more nurses as one strategy to address the nursing shortage. They suggest that improved status, and especially increased salaries, make baccalaureate and higher degree programs very attractive to diploma and Associate Degree in Nursing graduates, and to persons whose degrees are in other fields. Moving onward from first professional degree programs, Donley and Flaherty chronicle the development of articulation patterns which began in the US in the early 1960s and continue into the millennium. This article provides a summary of the historical evolution of career ladders in nursing in the US. It describes this evolution in three phases of development that have responded to the political, social, economic, and professional demands of the healthcare milieu during the past forty years. In phase one, academic career ladders were spiral staircases, poorly articulated entry and exit pathways. Phase two expressed the maturation of career ladders across all levels of nursing education and practice. In phase three, career ladders were built upon theoretical perspectives that enriched academic programs and clinical practice. The article concludes with a discussion of the value of clinical experience in educational programs and the value of clinical experience prior to graduate education, calling for more research and dialogue about the amount, type, and measurement of clinical experience to better inform legislation, accreditation, and healthcare outcomes. Penn, Wilson, and Rosseter discuss a new career pathway for clinicians as classroom teachers, researchers, and/or clinical instructors. This article, designed to help experienced professional nurses transition into faculty roles, presents a very detailed, comprehensive description of academic nursing. In this article Penn, Rosseter, and Wilson identify the skills and the educational preparation needed for teaching roles and outline the responsibilities of teachers. The authors discuss the various types of faculty appointments available to experienced nurses ranging from clinical to non-tenure-track to tenure-track appointments. The material is presented in an informal manner and the reader is given steps to be taken in order to be successful in the attainment and enactment of their new educator role. The authors present a detailed chart of the attributes deans and chairs of nursing education programs look for as they search for new faculty; this chart provides a blueprint for success for all faculty. An Eastern view of career mobility and educational advancement is presented by Chiang-Hanisko, Ross, Boonyanurak, Ozawa, and Ling-Chun Chiang. …