Abstract:
Nurses who transition from clinical practice to nursing education experience challenges which may affect their sense of professional identity and lead to frustration in the faculty role (Adams, 2011; Boyd & Lawley, 2009; Duffy, 2013; Schoening, 2013). That frustration may lead nurse educators to leave academia (Adams, 2011). Conversely, the construction of a strong professional identity has been shown to be a determining factor in faculty retention (Garbee & Killacky, 2008). The current nursing shortage calls for exploring ways to increase faculty recruitment and retention (NLN, 2015). This qualitative study explored the meaning of professional identity to community college nurse educators, and the influence of Communities of Practice on the construction process. From this research, community college nursing programs could gain valuable insight that would aid in the creation of academic cultures designed to better support nurse educators as they transition to the faculty role. This study found that for community college nurse educators, their meaning of professional identity is socially constructed in professional Communities of Practice and is closely associated with personal identity; it is who they are and what they do. Community college nurse educators never discard their nursing identities; instead they integrate them into the dual identity of nurse educator which develops with time and experience.
