Abstract
Background: As expert clinicians are recruited to academic positions in response to nursing faculty shortages, comprehensive plans are needed for transitioning and role development.
Problem: Schools of nursing often lack infrastructures to support and develop new faculty.
Approach: Team members from an academic-clinical partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs created a competency-based faculty development plan.
Outcomes: A comprehensive self-directed faculty development plan was established that included a needs assessment, competency-based guide, and online modular resources.
Conclusion: The faculty development plan provides a tailored approach to support the transition of clinicians to the academic role. This strategy is a potential solution to addressing the faculty shortage, retention, and role strain issues and builds capacity in schools of nursing. This innovative plan is a first step in establishing a mechanism to measure faculty competencies and professional growth.