Abstract:

There is little written about the effect of change from a senior position in the Health Care (HC) setting to a less senior position in an academic setting and the challenges that this transition could pose. For Health Care Professionals (HCPs) leaving the clinical setting, this shifting towards participation in and identification with, an academic community can prove challenging.

The research carried out will endeavour to inform the different communities in terms of the transition for work force planning, induction processes in HE and reducing possible personal challenges and tensions.

This could possibly inform clinical HC professional practices and better equip the future workforce for a shift in career into HE, educating and providing career opportunities for the future workforce.

The research is primarily exploratory, being used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations about an individual’s move from the HCS into HE.

The research explores the experiences of health care professionals who have been appointed to lecturer roles and have held them for up to 5 years. It will consider and present emergent themes that propose to inform academic induction practices for health care professionals with a view to strengthening the capacity of lecturers and their early contribution to training of new health care professionals.
It is of qualitative design based on interviews that have enabled staff perceptions and experiences to be gathered from a phenomenological perspective looking at the real lived experience of the participants.
Influenced by Wenger’s perspective on the link between identity and practice, the interview schedule used in the study has aked new lecturers about their work-place practice and learning.

The need for such a project was underpinned by student training being a crucial part of maintaining the workforce and planning for the future of Health Care provision in the UK. It is also a part of the HCP`s duty of practice in accordance with the HCPC and NMC`s guidelines (2016 and 2015 respectively).

A career in the HE setting can be an appealing option for promotion or alternate career opportunity for qualified HC professionals however, the transition from clinical practitioner to an academic role for these lecturers involves considerable challenges including development of practice and identity. A study by Smith and Boyd (2012), concluded that individuals from a clinical background hold strong practitioner identities developed through professional socialisation and as such may find it difficult to adapt or develop a new academic identity, if ever.

The research will present findings and some solutions to areas raised in the interviews.

Keywords:

Health care professionals, higher education, transition, communities of pracice, professional identity.