Incivility and Student and Faculty Relationships: Implications for Revising Mentorship Programs for Nurse Educators

Abstract

Negative relationships between students and educators are faculty becoming a focus in higher education, this is due in part to the impact on student learning [1,2]. Emerging evidence also reveals that these poor relationships in academic environments are often the cause of educator attrition, [3,4] and nurse educators who experience these deteriorating relationships have an increased likelihood of leaving their employment or nursing altogether [5-8]. In order to better understand student and nurse educator relationships (commonly referred in the literature as student and faculty incivility), research was examined to determine how and why ineffective interactions occur using an integrative review method [9]. All the studies portrayed incivility as a multifaceted complex problem in student and faculty relationships with psychological and sociological foundations, but few offered tangible strategies for resolution. The purpose of this study was to utilize identified themes prevalent in the literature to develop a set of strategies that can be used in designing mentorship programs, and to improve interactions between students and nurse educators in both the classroom and clinical settings. Evidence-based strategies need to be implemented that foster positive relationships between students and educators to reduce the devastating effects of these disruptive behaviors. Nurse educators have the responsibility to provide an environment for learning that optimizes learner success.