Professional Experience Placement

This review of the communities of practice (CoP)  literature to explore if and how CoP contribute to the construction of professional identity of nurse educators. Woods et al (2015) indicated the motivation for the review was driven by a lack of research that focussed on how CoP facilitates formation of professional identity for nurse educators.  The authors defined nurse educator as a nurse employed in a public or private health care system with the main function of delivering education, inclusive of clinical educational support and professional development.

The authors found that the role of nurse educators was poorly described, undervalued and complex with a large variance in actual practice that is acknowledged in literature from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Woods et al (2015) trace the hindrance of professional identity formation of nurse educators back to the historical times of Nightingale where subordination of nurses was uncritically accepted. Teacher identity is also discussed and the disconnect between competency and actual practice appears to be an issue for construction of professional identity. CoP literature is also examined and the authors indicate that it is a recent application within the health field whereby members mutually engage with each other to clarify, define and change practice in domains of common purpose. This blog and associated microblog grew from a CoP for clinical supervisors or nurse educators as described in this article. The authors do not view a virtual CoP as a CoP for the purpose of their context.  Woods et al (2015) found only five papers that met their criteria of CoP for nurse educators with potential for contributing to the formation of professional identity.  The authors state that further research into collaboration through mutual engagement towards common purpose and goals could enable  a social construction of nurse educator identity and practice. However, due to lack of evidence it is yet unknown whether CoP can influence nurse educator identity and practice.

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