Developing an understanding of research-based nursing pedagogy among clinical instructors: A qualitative study Nazik M.A. Zakari a, ⁎ ,1 , Hanadi Y. Hamadi b , Olfat Salem a a Nursing Administration and Education Department, College of Nursing, King Saud University, P.O. Box 642, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia b Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, United States summary article info Article history: Accepted 17 March 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Research-based teaching Clinical instructor Pedagogy Nursing teaching strategies Qualitative study Background: Effective instruction is imperative to the learning process of clinical nursing instructors. Faculty members are required to provide high-quality teaching and training by using new ways of teaching pedagogical methods to clinical instructors, which have transformed pedagogies from an exclusive clinical model to a holistic model. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore clinical instructors' use of planning, implementation, feedback loops, and reflection frameworks to apply research-based teaching and to examine the pedagogy used during field experience. Method: Data for the qualitative study were obtained from twenty purposefully sampled clinical teachers (n = 20) via lists of questioned instructional practices and discussions, semi-structured interviews, observation- al notes, field notes, and written reflections. Data were analyzed by using a triangulation method to ensure trust- worthiness, credibility, and reliability. Findings: Three main themes emerged regarding the use of research-based teaching strategies: the need for learning about research-based pedagogy, support mechanisms to implement innovative teaching strategies, and transitioning from nursing student to nursing clinical instructors. Conclusion: It has been well documented that the nursing profession faces a serious shortage of nursing faculty, impacting the quality of clinical teaching. Developing clinical instructor programs to give students opportunities to select instructor pathways, focusing on knowledge promoting critical thinking and life-long professional de- velopment, is essential. Nursing colleges must collaborate by using a partnership model to achieve competency in planning, implementation, feedback loops, and reflection. Applying research-based clinical teaching requires the development of programs that integrate low-fidelity simulation and assisted instruction through the use of computers in Nursing Colleges. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Background Globally, nursing education has undergone a significant transforma- tion whereby a humanities and holistic approach has replaced the tradi- tional clinical model of teaching and training. At the college level, the goal of nursing programs is to provide students with both theoretical and practical education to ensure their competency when delivering health care services (Zakari, 2011). These college-level programs face challenges due to a worldwide shortage of nurses and especially quali- fied nursing instructors (Potempa et al., 2009). Therefore, there is a great need for national clinical nursing instructors who can effectively deliver dual approaches to future nursing students. In response to this challenge, many college of nursing strategic plans focused on the improvement of the academic and developmental ser- vices of nursing education (King Saud University, 2012). From this per- spective, the responsibility of the nursing faculty encompasses three issues: teaching, research, and community service (Zakari, 2011). In addition, the nursing faculty members are required to provide high- quality teaching and training of new clinical instructors and demonstra- tors. New graduate nurses who are employed as nursing demonstrators or clinical instructors need to transition from the role of student into the role of clinical instructors. In colleges of nursing, faculties are exploring new ways of teaching pedagogical methods to clinical instructors in order to facilitate the training of clinical nursing instructors. The term “pedagogy” is associat- ed with teaching. According to Chinn (1989), pedagogy is the actions the teachers take in the learning environment, the materials they use, how they use them, and the attitudes they communicate (Chinn, 1989). Therefore, pedagogy includes both ways of thinking and behaviors in Nurse Education Today xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: nzakari@ksu.edu.sa (N.M.A. Zakari), Hamadi@email.sc.edu (H.Y. Hamadi), osalem@ksu.edu.sa (O. Salem). 1 Tel.: +966 11805135; fax: +966 114693625. YNEDT-02698; No of Pages 5 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.03.011 0260-6917/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nurse Education Today journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/nedt Please cite this article as: Zakari, N.M.A., et al., Developing an understanding of research-based nursing pedagogy among clinical instructors: A qualitative study, Nurse Educ. Today (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.03.011