Committing to my mission: Faculty experiences with student veterans in baccalaureate nursing education

Veterans transition to baccalaureate nursing education with significant experiences from their military service. Faculty play a role in facilitating this transition, in and out of the classroom. Approaches to enhance nursing education programs to better meet student veterans' needs have been proposed. However, less is known about the experiences of faculty teaching student veterans. A qualitative descriptive design was used to examine nursing faculty experiences teaching veterans, and in facilitating veterans' transfer of learning and knowledge from their military experience to baccalaureate nursing education. Semi-structured interviews with twelve faculty from the United States were conducted and data analyzed using content and thematic analysis. Three major themes included: committing to my mission, facilitating a shared understanding between military service and nursing, and appreciating a new duty. Results support faculty purposefully engaging in activities to increase their cultural sensitivity, while continuously developing humility and competence, to be successful teaching student veterans. Nursing faculty are positioned to leverage education as a means to improve the social status of veterans, ultimately improving their health and well-being, as well as academic success. It is recommended schools of nursing encourage and support faculty in attending professional development activities aimed at improving individual cultural sensitivity.