Church Helen R, Brown Megan E L, Govender Lynelle, Clark Deborah
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
School of Medicine, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
Med Educ. 2025 Mar;59(3):272-291. doi: 10.1111/medu.15529. Epub 2024 Sep 12.
The shortage of educators within Health Professions Education (HPE) threatens the optimal training of the future health care workforce. Furthermore, without recruitment of diverse and skilled faculty, targets to expand the workforce will not be possible. Non-practising health care professionals offer extensive knowledge and qualifications within health care, without the competing clinical commitments of their clinical academic colleagues, and therefore are ideally positioned to support education and training initiatives. However, the limited available evidence suggests that these individuals face significant challenges transitioning from clinical to academic roles. The purpose of this scoping review is to address the research question 'What is known about the career experiences of non-practicing healthcare professionals (defined as individuals with clinical backgrounds who no longer engage in direct patient care) across various professions and internationally, within the field of health professions education?'. To do so, we aim to map the global experiences of non-practising health care professionals from different specialties and disciplines transitioning to HPE, with a view to both current support strategies that aim to recruit and retain these individuals and fuel future research in this area.
Following Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review guidelines, a research question was formulated focussing on exploring the career experiences of non-practising health care professionals now working in HPE. Searching seven literature databases and grey literature identified 51 articles for analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilised to chart and thematically analyse data to identify key themes.
There has been a rise in publications on this topic, with most studies originating from the United States and focusing on nursing. Transition to academia is marked by significant challenges, including identity shifts, renumeration and professional progression tensions, licencing issues and financial concerns. Support systems are crucial to navigating new roles alongside personal/professional development but often lacking.
This scoping review highlights challenges and opportunities for non-practising health care professionals in HPE. Additional support for making the transition to education, including structured onboarding processes and long-term mentoring relationships, would be beneficial. Recognising the liminal space these professionals occupy might also facilitate more effective integration into academic roles, contributing to a more dynamic and inclusive HPE environment. Future research should explore these experiences from broader professional and geographical perspectives and employ an intersectional approach to fully understand and support this growing demographic in our field.
卫生职业教育（HPE）领域教育工作者的短缺威胁到未来医疗保健劳动力的最佳培训。此外，如果不招募多样化且技能娴熟的教师，扩大劳动力的目标将无法实现。非执业医疗保健专业人员在医疗保健领域拥有丰富的知识和资质，且没有临床学术同行那样相互竞争的临床工作任务，因此非常适合支持教育和培训计划。然而，现有的有限证据表明，这些人在从临床角色转变为学术角色时面临重大挑战。本范围综述的目的是回答研究问题“在卫生职业教育领域，关于不同专业和国际范围内非执业医疗保健专业人员（定义为具有临床背景但不再从事直接患者护理的人员）的职业经历，我们了解到了什么？”。为此，我们旨在梳理来自不同专业和学科的非执业医疗保健专业人员向HPE转型的全球经历，以便了解当前旨在招募和留住这些人员的支持策略，并推动该领域未来的研究。
遵循阿克西和奥马利的范围综述指南，制定了一个研究问题，重点探索目前在HPE工作的非执业医疗保健专业人员的职业经历。通过搜索七个文献数据库和灰色文献，确定了51篇文章进行分析。采用定量和定性方法对数据进行梳理和主题分析，以确定关键主题。
关于这个主题的出版物有所增加，大多数研究来自美国且集中在护理领域。向学术界的转型面临重大挑战，包括身份转变、薪酬和职业发展紧张关系、执照问题以及经济担忧。支持系统对于在个人/职业发展的同时适应新角色至关重要，但往往缺乏。
本范围综述突出了非执业医疗保健专业人员在HPE中的挑战和机遇。提供更多向教育转型的支持，包括结构化的入职流程和长期的指导关系，将是有益的。认识到这些专业人员所处的过渡空间也可能有助于更有效地融入学术角色，为更具活力和包容性的HPE环境做出贡献。未来的研究应从更广泛的专业和地理角度探索这些经历，并采用交叉性方法来全面理解和支持我们领域中这一不断增长的人群。
