Purpose of persistence to facilitate visit from President, was to engage awareness of complexities clinical instructors face in acute medicine and surgery; highlighting student experience and specifically emphasizing clinical instructor expectations and requirements by the academic institution. In concert of need to acclimatize with academic organizations and colleagues, clinical instructors also need a sense of belonging (Jetha, Boschma, & Clauson, 2016). “Transforming a person to the professional is believed to occur in the curriculum” (Kantar, 2016, p.393) yet fervently facilitated through clinical expertise and leadership.
Anticipation is to bridge gaps of disconnect from academic hierarchy. It is prudent to question academic institutional administration and its hierarchal connection to clinical leadership. Interaction with academic stakeholders is hermeneutic and dialectic in considering what is important when correlating clinical leadership and collaboration with the academic institution (Thibeault, 2017). Philosophical and theoretical underpinnings associate development of curriculum and assessment from the academe, to enculturation of professional values in academic institution requirements; hence, filter to clinical leadership directives (Lee, Steketee, Rogers, & Moran, 2013). Much gain is contingent on the engagement and involvement of the clinical instructor in the clinical leadership process; therefore “transformation affecting every instructional dimension” (Kantar, 2016, p.393).
Clinical leader partnership and collaboration of endeavor was achieved by choosing appropriate clinical instructor expertise and brainstorming collective ideas for success. “A dialectical pluralist stance recognizes that knowledge is contingent on context and that [collaborative] points of view interact with each other” (Thibeault, 2017, p.3) to enable clinical leadership pursuits. Gaining approval from respective clinical agency and setting was collaboratively investigated to ensure clearing conditions for visit from President were met. Academic institutional processes were also necessary to invoke, in order to facilitate President visit.
Complexities of the clinical instructor role became immediately transparent upon commencement of clinical day shift. One clinical instructor actively modelled the role; the other accompanied the President articulating expectations and complexities the clinical instructor faces in their leadership, and answering President inquiries accordingly. Enhancement for need of transformational perspectives in teaching and learning in medical/surgical clinical settings was illuminated and emphasized.
Mezirow’s (2009) seminal work of perspective transformation recommends participation from all academic entities is essential, particularly clinical leaders (Melrose, Park, & Perry, 2014). Transformational initiatives are encouraged to support a culture of collegial civility, eliminating power imbalances, in support of clinical leadership domains (Clark, 2013).
Success of the President visit was achieved; overwhelm in observing the medical/surgical clinical instructor role was vivid. Awareness of academic institutional involvement from President perspective became transparent from this transformational initiative. Continued interest and involvement of academic hierarchy is imminent in the face of experienced nursing faculty shortage. Transformational initiatives are essential for perspective transformation to become evident between academic hierarchy and medical/surgical clinical instructors.