Strategies for transitioning from a clinical position to a faculty role.

The nation faces a continued shortage of nurses that is projected to worsen in the next decade. The nursing shortage is fueled by a lack of faculty to educate nurses for entry into practice and advanced nursing practice positions. Many faculty enter academia after achieving expertise in a specialty area of clinical practice. These expert clinicians transition to novice faculty, a move that can be challenging and overwhelming. New faculty require guidance in understanding the various academic regulatory organizations; university structure, policies, and regulations; faculty responsibilities related to the university missions of teaching, service, practice, and scholarship; and face challenges with the need for new skills such as classroom management, curriculum development, and an understanding of the different culture and language of academia. The authors provide evidence from the literature and strategies and tips based on their experience for an expert clinician's successful transition from a clinical role to an academic position.

Research in nursing education and the institutional review board/ethics committee.

BACKGROUND: Institutional review board (IRB) or research ethics committee approval is intended to protect the rights of human subjects. Assurance that ethical standards are met is essential for educational research and quality improvement (QI) projects involving human subjects. PURPOSE: The purposes were to describe the requirements of nursing journals for educational studies and QI projects related to education to be reviewed by an IRB or a research ethics committee and to identify the types of statements of approval or exemption to be included in manuscripts. METHOD: The investigators employed an electronic survey sent to members of the International Academy of Nursing Editors list serve. Responses representing 64 nursing journals were received. RESULTS: The majority of journals that publish academic educational studies (n = 32, 86.5%) always required IRB or other ethics committee review, and 17 (45.9%) required the same for QI projects related to education. An IRB or research ethics committee review was always required by journals for educational studies (n = 24, 88.9%) and for QI projects (n = 14, 51.9%) involving the professional development of nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Educational studies that involve human subjects should be reviewed by an IRB or other type of research ethics committee before implementing the study. Any determination of exemption should be made by the IRB or research ethics committee, not by the investigator.

Strategies to Turn a Graduate School Paper Into a Publishable Journal Manuscript.

Graduate students complete papers for course requirements, doctor of nursing practice and master's projects, and doctoral dissertations. The valuable information contained in these school papers may be appropriate for publication in professional journals. Graduate students must learn the key differences between school paper and journal article styles. Using this critical information, students can revise their school papers in journal style and achieve a successful publication that contributes to the literature and, ultimately, to the care of patients and their families.