Faculty Support for a Culture of Scholarship of Discovery: A Literature Review

An ecosystem approach to mentoring research faculty in schools of nursing: The pacific northwest interdependence mentoring model

BACKGROUND

Mentoring can facilitate faculty career development and retention. Given ongoing challenges in academic nursing (e.g., shrinking number of experienced mentors), it is necessary to revisit and improve upon existing mentoring models and practices to support current and future nurse researchers.

PURPOSE

To describe the development of a new faculty-to-faculty research mentoring model.

METHODS

Construction of a model describing mentoring needed by research-focused nurse faculty based on analysis of the literature alongside the authors' personal experiences.

FINDINGS

The Pacific Northwest Interdependence Mentoring Model (PIMM) describes academic nursing as an ecosystem that fosters caring, trust, solidarity, equity, openness, and interdependent relationships among research faculty, administration, institutions, and funding sources.

DISCUSSION

Although mentoring environments differ in unique strengths, weaknesses, mission, culture, and values, the PIMM's approach could be applicable for many schools of nursing and beyond to support the growth of the nursing discipline.

Transitioning from a Doctor of Nursing Practice clinical role to academic scholar

Nursing faculty prepared with a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree have unique needs as they transition from their clinical roles into full-time academia. As expert clinicians they share a wealth of knowledge that contributes to quality improvement and implementation of evidence-based practice in healthcare. However, they may lack the preparation needed for scholarship, a requirement for promotion, as well as retention, in many academic organizations. Traditional promotional processes are more in tune with the nursing faculty who have received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, in which scholarship and research are a core component of their education and practice. As the number of DNP-prepared faculty increases, supporting successful transition to academia including scholarly productivity is essential to retention especially as nurse faculty shortages persist. Further research and resources are needed to help prepare and support DNP-prepared faculty to develop their scholarship with an increasing need to recognize the additional means of dissemination that these clinical scholars can utilize to meet the requirements of promotion.

External Scholarship Mentors for DNP-Prepared Faculty: A Practice-Oriented Exemplar

BACKGROUND

Variability surrounding what practice scholarship should entail and how to incorporate into academic life exists among DNP-prepared faculty teaching across nursing programs.

PROBLEM

DNP-prepared faculty entering an academic role are expected to maintain a clinical practice, teach/advise students, and fulfill service obligations, often leaving minimal time to build a program of scholarship.

APPROACH

Building upon the archetype of external mentors for PhD researchers, we introduce a new model for external mentorship for DNP-prepared faculty to facilitate scholarship.

OUTCOMES

In the first dyad to use this model, the mentor-mentee met/exceeded all contractual goals, including presentations, manuscripts, leadership behaviors, and role navigation within higher education. More external dyads are currently in development.

CONCLUSIONS

Securing an external, seasoned mentor as a match for a junior member of the faculty in a yearlong partnership demonstrates promise for positive change in the scholarship trajectory of DNP-prepared faculty in higher education.

A Mentoring Workgroup for Academic Role Transition Among Clinical-Track Nursing Faculty

BACKGROUND

With the current ongoing nurse faculty shortage, mentorship can aid in career advancement, promotion, and retention for clinical assistant professors (CAPs) when hiring clinical-track faculty.

METHOD

The organization, experiences, and outcomes of a CAP mentorship workgroup within a multi-campus research-intensive college of nursing are described.

RESULTS

The CAP mentorship workgroup was guided by senior faculty and met monthly to provide CAPs with a better understanding of the promotion process, motivation to pursue scholarship, and peer support. Through this workgroup, seven CAPs have completed their probationary review process, two CAPs are in the process of being promoted to clinical associate professors, and more than 90% of CAPs have been retained.

CONCLUSION

Mentorship for clinical-track faculty can positively influence faculty productivity and aid in CAP retention, which contributes to the success of nursing programs. [J Nurs Educ. 2023;62(3):183-186.].

Faculty Development and Infrastructure to Support Educational Scholarship: A Scoping Review on Author Development

PURPOSE

Medical educators are expected to produce educational scholarship, which can lead to career advancement and promotion. Institutions have developed author development programs, which vary in duration, instructional approach, and effectiveness. However, no summation of the evidence exists for academic medicine leaders to use as guidance for building similar programs. This scoping review characterizes faculty development programs that support educational scholarship and author development in academic medicine.

METHOD

The authors searched PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and ProQuest (Healthcare Administration Database and Social Science Premium Collection) for articles published from inception to June 14, 2021. Articles that described formal instruction on scholarly writing for publishing were included. Data were analyzed by program participation, structure, content delivery, and outcomes.

RESULTS

Of 923 articles identified, 20 met inclusion criteria. The included studies covered 18 unique programs of which 1 was sponsored jointly by a university and professional society, 5 by professional societies, 5 by university or medical school organizations, and 7 by medical departments. Nine programs relied at least in part on volunteers. Instructional approaches included didactics (7 programs) and mentoring (5 programs) but mostly featured group-based work (11 programs). Expectations for participants ranged from participation to manuscript submission. The main funding sources were grants (8 programs) and internal funds (7 programs) from the sponsoring institution. Only 4 programs reported participation fees. The impact of these programs included scholarly work products, other measures of career advancement, and participant perceptions.

CONCLUSIONS

Author development programs require resource investment and a culture that values educational scholarship. Workshops, 1-on-1 mentoring, and peer writing groups are cornerstones of the experiential learning approach needed to build scholarship skills and can pay dividends in supporting the academic mission in medicine. These findings may benefit leaders in academic medicine who want to develop evidence-based programs in author development.

Reflecting on educational preparedness and professional development for early-career nurse faculty: A phenomenological study

Bedside nurses are assuming the faculty role without the necessary skill set to meet their role's rigorous expectations. The researchers sought to explore the lived experiences of early-career nursing faculty and what it feels to be unprepared to teach. A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews served as the primary data collection method. The purposive sample consisted of nine graduate-prepared early-career nursing faculty with less than five years' experience teaching who felt unprepared for the faculty role. Four themes emerged from the data: (1) balance between theory and practice; (2) socialization to the role; (3) real-world experience; and (4) ownership for ongoing learning. The findings bring transparency for nurse faculty to assess the educational and transitional process outcomes from early-career nursing faculties' perspectives.

Scholarly Requirements and Support for Nursing Faculty Development and Career Advancement: A Nationwide Delphi Study

AIM

The aim of the study was to better understand the scholarship requirements and support for nursing faculty as they work to advance their scholarship and careers.

BACKGROUND

Nursing faculty are often required to participate in teaching, service, and scholarship. New faculty often struggle with the scholarship component.

METHOD

A nationwide Delphi study was conducted, surveying deans and/or associate deans for research at master's and doctoral degree-granting institutions.

RESULTS

Scholarly requirements provided for faculty to enable development of scholarship were well defined: having a dedicated leader; funding support; a culture of scholarship; publications, presentations, and grant writing expectations; formal programs; mentors; and support.

CONCLUSION

This study provided a beginning understanding of important aspects of faculty support for scholarship and career development. More information is needed to determine if the support structures and activities described reach faculty and enhance career development.

The lived experience of nursing faculty developing as scholarly writers

BACKGROUND

Nursing faculty are expected to disseminate scholarly work through publications, yet little is known about how faculty develop as scholarly writers.

PURPOSE

This manuscript discusses a hermeneutic phenomenological research study that uncovered the experience of nursing faculty developing as scholarly writers.

METHODS

Audiotaped personal interviews were conducted with 12 nursing faculty to understand the lived experience of nursing faculty developing as scholarly writers. A 5-step data analysis process consistent with phenomenology was used to identify common themes.

RESULTS

Findings revealed five themes: pulling everything together, steering me in the direction, using feedback to grow, squeezing it in, and staying on task.

CONCLUSION

This study offers educators insight into the experience of faculty developing as scholarly writers and leads to recommendations for approaches that may be useful in writing development.

Visiting Scholars Program to enhance career development among early-career KL2 investigators in Clinical and Translational Science: Implications from a quality improvement assessment

CTSI Career Development Award (KL2) programs provide junior faculty with protected time and multidisciplinary, mentored research training in clinical and translational science research. The KL2 Visiting Scholars Program was developed to promote collaborative cross-CTSA training, leverage academic strengths at host CTSAs, and support the career development of participating scholars through experiential training and the development of new partnerships. This manuscript provides a detailed programmatic description and reports outcomes from post-visit and outcomes surveys. Since 2016, 12 scholars have completed the program, with 6 scheduled to complete it in 2021. Post-visit surveys (n = 12) indicate all scholars reported the program valuable to career development, 11 reported benefit for research development, and 11 expansion of collaborative networks. Outcomes surveys (n = 11) revealed subsequent scholar interaction with host institution faculty for 10 scholars, 2 collaborative grant submissions (1 funded), 2 planned grant submissions, 1 published collaborative manuscript, and 3 planned manuscript/abstract submissions. The Visiting Scholars Program is a cost- and time-efficient program that leverages the academic strengths of CTSAs. The program enhanced KL2 scholar training by expanding their professional portfolio, promoting research development, and expanding collaborative networks. Resources to support the program are shared in this report to expedite the development of similar programs at regional and national levels.

Promoting and Supporting a Doctor of Nursing Practice Program of Scholarship

BACKGROUND

Mentoring in the context of the faculty-student relationship can be one in which each benefits. Creative approaches are warranted to help discriminate the boundaries between the student and the teacher as a mentor, which are often ill-defined and blurred given the high-stakes summative assessments of performance.

METHOD

Six specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based (SMART) goals were established for a mentor and mentee relationship spanning a 2-year period based on a vision for building a program of scholarship. Weekly mentoring sessions were used to monitor progress toward goal attainment.

RESULTS

While completing the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, the mentee expanded professional networks, obtained funded fellowships, expanded knowledge and skills related to the substantive area of scholarship, and disseminated that work through professional presentations and publications coauthored with the mentor.

CONCLUSION

Cognizant of the boundaries between course-related products and professional presentations and publications, the goal-driven mentor-mentee relationship is transformational to both. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(9):526-530.].