Facilitating the Success of Nursing Faculty via the Onboarding Process

BACKGROUND: Per Morin and Ashton (2004), nursing faculty orientation/onboarding programs should “take place over a prolonged period of time; be incorporated into faculty development plans; create/foster an inviting environment; include information about the tripartite role of the academician [e.g., teaching, service, and research/scholarship]; and identify a specific institutional resource person such as a mentor,” (p. 239). However for a variety of compelling reasons, no formal onboarding process existed at the institution of this Sigma Experienced Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy (ENFLA) scholar, and the impact of this “missing link” was apparent. Hence, the scholar accepted responsibility for providing the leadership needed to create a model for faculty onboarding that would be robust, sustainable, and focus on promoting faculty success along with a smooth transition to the scholar’s institution.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this ENFLA project was three-fold: 1) Pilot a survey that replicates the "Experienced Faculty Orientation Offerings: Do They Meet Faculty Needs?" study by Morin and Romeo (1994); 2) Identify common elements and best practices of nursing faculty onboarding programs; and 3) Develop a standardized onboarding and orientation plan for all new hires at the scholar’s academic institution.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: Biddle’s (2013) Role Theory provided the framework for this project because it focuses on persons who share a common identity but also encompasses their behaviors and expectations as well as how they are socialized to their roles so as to negate any role strain/stress.

METHODS: This project incorporated a descriptive survey research design. A survey link was emailed to 200+ faculty at two universities (the scholar’s and the mentor’s) and faculty were asked about their orientation/onboarding experiences. The 46-item survey – based on Morin and Romeo’s (1994) survey, a review of literature (ROL), and a United States Office of Personnel Management new employee survey template – was deployed via the Qualtrics® platform to identify the factors that contribute to or hinder the onboarding process of new faculty. The survey had both open- and closed-ended items. Content validity was established with input from several nursing faculty who provided feedback on clarity and further refinement of the survey items. Concurrent with deploying the survey, the scholar co-led an onboarding workgroup that created an online dashboard in order to make the final onboarding process/product sustainable at the scholar’s institution. Based on the information gleaned from the ROL regarding common elements and best practices, survey results, and collaboration with colleagues, a formal onboarding and orientation plan will be implemented at the scholar’s institution.

RESULTS: The survey is currently deployed (May-June 2019) and the findings will be shared through the poster. The onboarding process for new nursing faculty at the scholar’s institution is in development and expected to be launched in Fall 2019. Current plans are to implement the online dashboard, identify navigators to assist new faculty with completing their new hire documents and physically navigating their new institution (Ross, Huang, & Jones, 2014); provide tech tutors to provide one-on-one learning management system sessions (Scott, Lemus, Knotts, & Oh, 2016); and match each new faculty member with a peer mentor (Ross et al., 2014) who will provide mentorship for academic and professional growth, guidance, and success.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Given the national nurse faculty vacancy rate of 7.9% (AACN, 2018), it is imperative that efforts are made to help new faculty understand and flourish in the academic environment so they remain in and are satisfied with their roles as educator/scholars.