Critical incidents in nursing academics: discovering a new identity

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: a qualitative study that followed the principles of the grounded theory in order to analyze the professional identity of nursing academics through the analysis of the most disturbing critical incidents. METHOD: semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven nurses who worked as professors and researchers in a private university in Barcelona. RESULTS: the resulting empirical material was organized into two categories: characterization of critical incidents and responsiveness to the incident. CONCLUSION: the professional identity of nurses regarding the academic area is still under construction and inexperience is the major obstacle in the management of critical incidents in the teaching career.