Clinical Nurse Educators' job satisfaction and turnover intentions: A scoping review protocol

Clinical Nurse Educators (CNEs) play a critical role in supporting the recruitment, retention, and professional development of staff nurses in acute care hospital settings. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic — which has exacerbated global nursing shortages — CNEs are reporting high levels of burnout associated with unpredictable work expectations and nursing workforce challenges. However, the factors which influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions among CNEs are not well understood. The objective of this scoping review is to provide a comprehensive overview of existing literature that focuses on job satisfaction and turnover intentions of CNEs within the acute care setting. JBI and PRISMA-ScR guidelines will be used for this scoping review. The search will include English language articles published in the international healthcare management and nursing literature between 2013-2024, as well as grey literature. This review will consider all literature sources that explore the concept of job satisfaction and turnover intentions of CNEs in the context of acute care settings such as hospitals and short stay units. Data extraction will be completed using JBI SUMARI software to gather specific data from each literature source. The results will be synthesized to map out themes within existing literature and to identify areas for further research. Supported by tables and graphs, content analysis will be employed to provide an extensive overview of what is known about the topic of interest. Rather than evaluating the significance of findings in individual studies, this review will contribute new insights to the existing literature and identify areas for further research.