Nurse educators’ transitional programs and interventions are important in the Maldives, recognizing the national need and notable increase in the number of nursing students enrolled in various teaching institutions. The absence of transitional programs magnifies the challenge of insignificant teaching competencies in the novice nurse educator population. Therefore, using a descriptive qualitative research design, this study explored novice nurse educators’ experiences of their transition process, examining the perspectives on easing the transition from a bedside nurse to a nurse educator. Data was collected from 7 novice nurse educators from 2 major nursing institutions in the Maldives. Findings from qualitative thematic analysis revealed that while most participants appreciated the support from their colleagues and the students, they found the transition experience challenging. They described clinical teaching approaches as distinctly different from classroom teaching for nursing students due to student characteristics and their huge number. Lack of formal transitional programs or mentorship programs from the teaching institutions was identified as the major challenge by all the participants. This was primarily caused by the heavy workload without sufficient preparation time, in addition to inadequate teaching, assessment and curriculum design knowledge. A few of them have also identified the disadvantage of having limited professional development opportunities due to the geographical boundaries from the central teaching institution. The study highlighted the need for policy changes on providing equal opportunities to novice nurse educators by having a mandatory transitional/mentorship program for successful transition that is beneficial to both the faculty as well as to the students.

Authors:
Aishath Sana Shareef, Maldives National University, Maldives

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. Aishath Sana Shareef is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing, The Maldives National University. With over eight years of teaching experience, her research focuses on internationalization higher education (IoHE) in the Maldives.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aishath-sana-shareef-bb41a81b1/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aishath-Shareef

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