Sub-ordinate theme: Career change

All eight of the participants described difficulties transitioning to an academic

profession. The transition challenged their established identities as nurses, as Diane expressed in her words ‘you’re probably… at the top of your game in practice’. For Diane, the challenge related to starting again, and her lack of control of the situation; moving away from her old identity in which she was confident and an expert, to her new identity as a novice lecturer, seemed to challenge the values and knowledge base of her previous role. Diane felt very much on the periphery in this new role

…at the top of your game in practice… used to being in control and knowing what you’re doing. I felt completely out of control and I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t like that feeling. (Diane)

In contrast, Brenda used the term ‘novice’ when interpreting how this transition made her feel, acknowledging the length of time she had spent in the NHS, and indicating how she was feeling overwhelmed with the different culture and approaches to working in HEIs:

…so much to learn…. abbreviations to understand… questioning, I felt like a novice again… comparing to the NHS… it’s a long time, in one place in which I was an expert… totally different mentality of working [in HEI]. (Brenda)

New lecturers in health and social care disciplines often struggle in their transition to academia. They are often appointed due to expertise from practice, in contrast to colleagues from non-vocational professions who enter academia through the traditional route of research and doctoral study which enables development of the integrated values and cultures of academia.

For both Diane and Brenda there is a perception that it will take time to adjust. The challenges of transitioning from clinical practice to academia were interestingly expressed by Tracey, who perceived that the established academic staff had dismissed their backgrounds as nurses, now having a different approach; Tracey used the word ‘mind-set’ in relation to their priorities. There is a real sense of uncertainty in her new role: Tracey seems to be finding it difficult to manage this change of identity, wanting to remain close to her first order profession as a nurse. To her, there appeared to be no mutual engagement: no connecting between participants and existing staff using formal and non-formal support, and no defining the membership of her new role with other members of the academic team through negotiation and ways of working:

…people actually thought differently here… lot of people that don’t have that same mind-set as me. I think… it’s more of a business mind-set, it is a completely different culture… they don’t have that nurse attitude. (Tracey)

Jenny’s enthusiasm about moving to HE indicated an initial readiness to change and become part of a new academic community of practice, wanting to share and gain knowledge of the role. However, she also expressed her emotions regarding the impact and fear of losing her role as a nurse, and that she sees the move as a career change. There is a sense that she is struggling with this new identity whilst retaining loyalties to her first profession, emphasising the need for support systems

and strategies to establish her new identity through mentoring and orientation programmes:

…big step making that change from clinical practice… overall, I’m absolutely loving it… this has been a whole career change… I think in my head… l thought I would still be a nurse. (Jenny)

Linda seems to have gone through some form of transition. She acknowledges that she had not anticipated how the role was different to what she was used to, referring to the new role as a career change. However, she used the term ‘stepped out’ of one career to another, which could imply she may step back:

It’s just different and I think I hadn’t factored that in. I’ve not just changed job, it’s a career change, I’ve stepped out of my nursing role and it’s the teaching role now which is very different. (Linda)

Whilst participants identify themselves in different ways, they all refer to nursing as having an influence on their identity: nursing appears to be the foundation that they built their new identities upon.

In summary: in this sub-ordinate theme of change of career, participants highlighted the challenges of working as an academic and the challenges to their identity as nurses, which had a major influence on their new identity formation even though their professional identity as a nurse was brought into their new role. Participants had spent between eight and thirty years working for predominately one NHS organisation, which has its own cultural identity for those in its employ. Most were well established as professional nurses with many having leadership and

management roles. Many of the participants described feeling like a novice again and expressed fears of losing their role as a nurse. The importance of recognising the psychological aspect of coping with change and the social aspect in establishing their new role was identified.