Abstract
Transitioning from doctoral preparation to the academy is a stressor for most new faculty, particularly among academicians in the medical and health professions where role strain may include clinical responsibilities as part of faculty load. The proliferation of clinical doctorates and terminal clinical allied health degrees has increased the need for both traditionally trained educators, but also faculty with clinical doctorates or terminal clinical degrees (CDF) to augment the curriculum. CDF may not have the background in academia typically acculturated in a traditional doctoral degree. A lack of socialization during clinical doctoral preparation may lead CDF to develop unrealistic expectations regarding faculty collegiality, research and responsibility. Socialization is necessary to orient new faculty, but may be compounded with CDF who lack orientation to the academy regarding classroom management, scholarship, institutional hierarchy and general faculty expectations. A more extensive orientation to teaching, service, and scholarship as well as transitional issues like time management and expectations should be added to mentorship and orientation for CDF hired for health care professions educational programs. Challenges for CDF are most often related to problems decoding expectations of the organization, learning to budget time and creating relationships with colleagues. CDF need remediation to overcome the culture shock associated with the transition from practice to the academy. Traditional mentorship and socialization models entail mature faculty who gift their time and expertise in a one-on-one or small group sessions. CDF orientation may need to follow a more formalized plan rather than traditional mentorship philosophies and for an extended period of time (1-2 years) to ensure a successful transition. This manuscript provides a reorganization of common concepts in the mentorship literature to help administrators of health care profession education to develop CDF and junior faculty.
DOI
10.46743/1540-580X/2012.1385
Recommended Citation
Kahanov L, Eberman L, Yoder A, Kahanov M. Culture Shock: Transitioning from Clinical Practice to Educator. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2012 Jan 01;10(1), Article 7.
