The United States faces a significant shortage of nurses and nurse faculty resulting in an increased demand for new nurse educators. Nurses with graduate degrees are considered qualified to teach although many have little or no educational preparation for the teaching role. Proficiency in teaching develops over time and little is understood about this process. An extensive literature review found few publications that explored how nurses as clinicians became effective educators, or how nurse educators dveleoped competence as they moved along their career trajectory. Specific aims for this phenomenological study included: Understanding the lived experience of nurse educators in higher education who were peer-nominated as effective teachers, and understanding the characteristics, traits, practices, and experiences that influenced and shaped their development and competence.
