Addressing the Shortage of Academic Nurse Educators: Recommendations for Educational Institutions Based on Nominal Group Technique Research.

AIM: The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold: 1) explore factors contributing to the shortage of academic nurse educators (ANEs) and 2) identify opportunities to address these factors from the perspectives of nursing education institutions. BACKGROUND: The nurse faculty shortage is a major national concern, with inadequate recruitment and retention. Addressing the nursing faculty shortage is important to maintain a sustained nursing workforce. METHOD: Using a nominal group technique (NGT), a group of 45 diverse nurse educators from across the United States formed a virtual workgroup. RESULTS: Findings led to an action plan formulated to guide educational institutions with ways to decrease the ANE shortage through recruitment and retention. CONCLUSION: The evidence demonstrates the need for educational institutions to concentrate efforts on recruiting and retaining ANEs to combat the nursing shortage. The analysis offers recommendations to institutions to increase the number of qualified ANEs.

Barriers for BSN students to pursue a PhD in nursing and recommendations to address them: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Increasing the BSN-PhD pipeline could address the shortage of nursing faculty to conduct research, develop nursing science, and train new nurses and faculty. PURPOSE: To identify barriers to BSN students' pursuit of PhD education, and to compile recommendations to increase their numbers. METHODS: This scoping review follows PRISMA guidelines, including articles in English that discussed barriers to BSN students' pursuit of PhD education and recommendations to address them. FINDINGS: Barriers to pursuing a PhD include misunderstanding PhD education and its impact on population-level health, insufficient funding for PhD studies, and perceived need for clinical experience. BSN program recommendations include education on doctoral and postdoctoral options, mentorship, and hands-on research experiences. PhD programs should be accessible, fully funded, and address students' perceived need for clinical experience. DISCUSSION: The nursing profession must take coordinated action across individual, interpersonal, program, policy, and cultural levels to increase the pipeline of well-prepared BSN-PhD students.

Nursing faculty shortage in Canada: A scoping review of contributing factors.

BACKGROUND: Strong nursing faculty is paramount to promote disciplinary leadership and to prepare future nurses for practice. Our understanding of the factors associated with or predictive of nurse faculty retention and/or turnover is lacking. PURPOSE: The aim of this review is to identify and synthesize the existing literature on factors contributing to nurse faculty shortage in Canada and implications on nursing practice. METHODS: A scoping review based on the Arskey and O'Malley's five stage framework for scoping reviews was undertaken. Utilizing the PRISMA protocol, a comprehensive and structured literature search was conducted in five databases of studies published in English. FINDINGS: Limited through search inclusion and relevance of research, nine studies out of 220 papers met the criteria for this review and were thematically analyzed. Identified themes were supply versus demand; employment conditions; organizational support; and personal factors. DISCUSSION: Impending retirement of faculty, unsupportive leadership, and stressful work environments were frequently reported as significant contributing factors to the faculty shortage. CONCLUSION: This scoping review provides insights into how Canada's schools of nursing could engage in grounded efforts to lessen nursing faculty shortage, both nationally and globally. We identified a gap in the literature that indicates that foundational work is needed to create context-specific solutions. The limited studies published in Canada suggest that this is a critical area for future research and funding.

A retrospective/prospective on the future of geriatric nursing.

This paper will describe the exciting progress in geriatric nursing practice over the past 40 years and pay tribute to the leadership in the field, the progress in our programs of research and our commitment to ensuring our older patients get the reliable, high value, evidenced-based care they deserve. A brief synopsis of the literature related to the future of geriatric nursing and the field of geriatrics, describing themes from the literature in the context of the papers contained herein. Themes include: shortage of trained geriatric healthcare professionals, shortage of faculty, paucity of research funding, interdisciplinary care is required, meaningful use and integration of technology, lack of research funding and lack of interest in geriatrics as a specialty. The rapidly accelerating demand for geriatric nurse experts and care for older adults positions the nursing profession as principal agent in bridging care-gap needs for older persons, families, and their communities.

Becoming a Transformative Nurse Educator: Finding Safety and Authenticity.

The study purpose was to evaluate and strengthen this program's nursing education curriculum to better prepare and develop future nurse faculty. As the dire nursing faculty shortage increases, the transition of expert nurse clinician to novice educator is receiving more attention. In order to prepare, recruit, and retain the nursing faculty needed to meet the growing nurse shortage, understanding what nurse educators need in order to be successful is essential. Fourteen participants from four focus groups of nurse educators shared stories about their role transition. Two administrators were interviewed to determine what they identified as crucial in hiring new nurse educators. Interpretive analysis focused on identification of themes and possible paradigm cases. Themes that emerged included: a) culture of academia surprises, b) exciting "Aha!" moments, and c) Safety with a capital "S". These findings were used to strategically revise the entire nurse educator curriculum.

DNP-Prepared Nurse Leaders: Part of the Solution to the Growing Faculty Shortage.

It is no secret that there is a nursing faculty shortage due to aging faculty, retention issues, and an increased need for more nurses with the DNP degree. This parallels the ongoing nursing shortage, as lack of faculty limits nursing student capacity. Explanation of how DNP-prepared faculty can help fill the nursing faculty shortage and strategies are explored in this article.

Retirements and succession of nursing faculty in 2016-2025.

BACKGROUND: Faculty retirement has been a growing concern for the nursing education community given the impact it may have on preparing the future nursing workforce. PURPOSE: To estimate faculty retirements in 2016-2015 and to assess the impact of retirements on the faculty workforce. METHOD: The Least-Squares Regression and the Cohort Component Methods were used to project retirements. DISCUSSION: The study projected that total retirements in 2016-2025 would equal one third of faculty in 2015. Retirees are likely to come from current faculty aged 60 or older, and faculty aged 50-59 are likely to be their replacements. The impact of the retiring faculty on the faculty workforce will be huge given their overrepresentation in doctoral attainment, senior rank, and ability for graduate-level teaching. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest a sense of urgency for the nursing education community to address the impending exodus of senior faculty and to develop younger faculty for their successful succession.

Long-term outcomes of the New Jersey nurse faculty preparation program scholars.

BACKGROUND: Rising concerns over the capacity of nursing education to prepare enough nurses to meet population demand have received national attention. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation implemented the New Jersey Nursing Initiative Faculty Preparation Program to address nursing workforce issues in New Jersey. PURPOSE: This paper describes program and scholar outcomes and provides recommendations for nurse faculty development. METHODS: This descriptive study uses data from scholar surveys and interviews with grantees. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that a faculty preparation program that targets doctoral students and includes financial support, socialization to the faculty role, and formal education courses produces graduates who maintain a career in nursing education for up to three years after program completion. However, most master's-level students who also received formal preparation in nursing education were employed in clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: Program developers must carefully consider the design of programs that integrate faculty preparation and advanced clinical training for master's-level students.

Perspectives from Academic Leaders of the Nursing Faculty Shortage in Canada.

There is a world-wide shortage of nursing faculty, which is complicated by the need for French, English, and bilingual professors in Canada. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the current status and effects of the nursing faculty shortage on Canadian Schools of Nursing (SON) from a leadership perspective. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Deans and Directors of Canadian Schools of Nursing. The participants spoke about the faculty shortage in terms of demand, supply, and strategies employed. The participants were concerned about the ramifications of some of the decisions deemed necessary for continued viability of their programs, such as over-assigning teaching workloads. In light of mass upcoming retirements, shortening the time to completion for PhD studies and making graduate education more accessible are important priorities.

Professional Development Needs of Novice Nursing Clinical Teachers: A Rapid Evidence Assessment.

The current nursing profession is challenged with a decreasing supply of competent clinical teachers due to several factors consequently impacting the quality of nursing education. To meet this demand, academic nursing programs are resorting to hiring expert nurses who may have little or no teaching experience. They need support during their transition from practice to teaching. Using the systematic approach of a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA), scholarly literature was reviewed to identify existing professional development needs for novice clinical teachers as well as supportive strategies to aid the transition of experienced nurses into teaching practice. The REA included 29 relevant studies. Findings revealed three main professional development needs for novice clinical teachers and key supportive strategies. Based on these findings recommendations for best practices to support and prepare novice clinical teachers are presented.

NURSING FACULTY DIVERSITY: BARRIERS AND PERCEPTIONS ON RECRUITMENT, HIRING AND RETENTION.

The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of nursing faculty on the barriers to recruitment, hiring, and retention of minority nursing faculty who are Black/African-American, and Hispanic/Latina (o) in order to understand the current dynamics limiting the representation of these two minority groups in nursing education. The design was a descriptive, comparative design, using an online survey. A multi-stage sampling method selected 667 nursing faculty from 56 colleges, resulting in a final sample size of 103 (15.4%). The two minority groups reported physical appearance and speech pattern had an affect on being hired. In comparing the perceptions of White, Black/African-American, and His panic/Latina (o) nurse faculty on recruitment, hiring, and retention issues, there were two statistically significant items. Responses on the major barriers to retention indicated six items were statistically significant. In conclusion, Black/African-American and Hispanic/Latina (o) nurse faculty indicated the barriers and perceptions to hiring and retention that still affect them, and confirmed the lack of financial assistance and mentors continues to be key issues for hiring and retention.

A profile of U.S. nursing faculty in research- and practice-focused doctoral education.

PURPOSE: This study, which is part of a larger project, was conducted to profile the nursing faculty in the United States teaching in PhD and DNP programs. DESIGN: This is a descriptive study. A sample of 554 nursing faculty who teach in PhD and DNP programs was recruited by email solicitation to represent all geographic regions of the United States. Data were collected from November 2013 through January 2014 using an online survey instrument. METHODS: The instrument was developed based on results of review of the literature and of focus groups of doctoral faculty (faculty teaching in doctoral programs) to ascertain characteristics of faculty teaching in doctoral programs and of the schools in which they teach. Frequencies and descriptive statistics are reported. FINDINGS: Growth in DNP programs has outpaced growth in PhD programs, and DNP graduates have moved into doctoral education in greater numbers than PhD graduates. DNP faculty report less prior experience and current productivity scholarship than faculty in PhD programs only or both types of programs. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies are needed to ensure that doctoral programs are staffed by faculty who are prepared for doctoral education and the development of nursing science. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The Institute of Medicine has recommended doubling the number of doctorally prepared nurses in the United States by 2020 to ensure that sufficient numbers of faculty are available to prepare the nursing labor force that is needed for delivery of healthcare services. Nurse scientists are needed to contribute to improvement in patient care quality and safety, and practice leaders are needed to facilitate the translation of research into safe, high-quality, and cost-effective care. The landscape of doctoral education in nursing is rapidly changing.

Increasing faculty capacity: findings from an evaluation of simulation clinical teaching.

AIM: To compare how the use of different "doses" of simulation in undergraduate clinical teaching affect faculty capacity. BACKGROUND: Since 2008, the NYU College of Nursing has used a "high dose" of simulation to substitute for 50 percent of the clinical hours in core medical-surgical courses to address a shortage of faculty and clinical sites. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing has used limited, "low-dose" simulation hours to supplement clinical hours. METHOD: The evaluation included program data and surveys and qualitative interviews with faculty and students in each program. RESULTS: Implementing "high-dose" clinical simulation resulted in a nearly 50 percent increase in faculty capacity at NYU, expanding undergraduate enrollment from 613 students in 2007 to 900 in 2012, with no negative impacts on faculty work life or student outcomes. CONCLUSION: Substituting simulation for traditional clinical hours can be a sustainable and educationally sound option to increase faculty capacity.

An evaluation of state-based support-for-service programs targeting nurse faculty.

AIM: The aim of the study was to assess how state-based support-for-service (SFS) programs are used by deans and directors of nursing programs and to evaluate their perceived impact. BACKGROUND: Given projected nurse faculty shortages, stakeholders are looking for ways to address the maldistribution and shortage of nurse faculty. One state-level strategy is the implementation of loan repayment and scholarship programs, which incentivize individuals with, or currently pursuing, graduate degrees to become or remain nurse faculty. METHOD: This study used a mixed-method and multilevel approach to assess the impact of SFS programs in seven states. RESULTS: Programs are perceived to affect both recruitment and retention of faculty and play a role in increasing the educational qualifications of current nurse faculty. CONCLUSION: Nurse educators need to be aware of SFS programs and how best to use them to support nurse faculty.

Challenges to research productivity of doctoral program nursing faculty.

The Institute of Medicine, responding to a national health care crisis and related nursing labor force concerns, has called for an increase in the proportion of registered nurses with baccalaureate or higher degrees to 80% and a doubling of the number of nurses with doctorates by 2020. Simultaneously, large numbers of senior faculty are starting to retire, whereas the movement of doctorally prepared nurses into academia is insufficient to replace them. Issues associated with the efforts of nursing programs to increase their capacity to respond to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, particularly the effect on scholarly productivity among nursing faculty in doctoral programs, are examined in this article. Creative strategies for promoting scholarly productivity among doctoral program faculty are identified.

Attrition of full-time faculty from schools of nursing with baccalaureate and graduate programs, 2010 to 2011.

The shortage of qualified faculty has been consistently reported as a major barrier impeding acceptance of all qualified applicants into nursing programs. In addition to faculty recruitment, the attrition of faculty is also a concern for schools of nursing. In this study, we found that nationally 11.8% of full-time faculty who worked in 2010 left their full-time jobs by 2011. Nearly half of total attrition, or 5.7% of full-time faculty members, were related to leaving for nonacademic nursing positions, whereas another 20% of attrition, or 2.4% of full-time faculty, resulted from retirement. Nearly 20% of faculty egressions, or 2.2% of full-time faculty, was due to leaving for nursing administrative positions or full-time faculty positions in an academic setting. Leaving for part-time faculty positions made up slightly more than 10% of faculty attrition or 1.3% of full-time faculty. Our bivariate analysis identifies distinctive academic and demographic profiles of faculty who left full-time positions for different reasons, and our multivariate analysis further shows that different individual and institutional attributes are significantly associated with different types of attrition.

Who will educate our nurses? A strategy to address the nurse faculty shortage in New Jersey.

BACKGROUND: The nurse faculty shortage hampers the capacity of the nursing workforce to respond to the demands of the evolving health care system. As a strategy to address the shortage in New Jersey, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation implemented the New Jersey Nursing Initiative Faculty Preparation Program to prepare nurses for the faculty role. This article highlights program implementation successes and challenges, scholar and faculty perceptions of the program, and provides recommendations for others interested in preparing nurse faculty. METHODS: This evaluation uses data from scholar surveys and focus groups, interviews with grantees, and grantee reports. RESULTS: Findings suggest that a program that includes generous monetary support, socialization to the nurse faculty role, and formal education courses produces graduates who readily assume a faculty position and are committed to at least a part-time career in nursing education. CONCLUSIONS: This evaluation emphasizes the need to carefully design programs that integrate faculty preparation and advanced clinical training.

An evaluation of mental health simulation with standardized patients.

Interviewing standardized patients (SPs) trained to model psychiatric disorders can promote student nurses' interview skills and therapeutic communication, while at the same time increasing their confidence and decreasing anxiety. From a constructivist view of education and Kolb's (1984; Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Edgewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall) theory of experiential learning, this article describes the development and use of SPs as a learning strategy. The use of SPs helps faculty in overcoming some of the challenges of competing for clinical sites and meeting objectives in limited clinical time. In this simulation, baccalaureate nursing students had the opportunity to interact with SPs, who had been trained to demonstrate symptoms of bipolar disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia. During debriefing, students critiqued their performances, identifying strengths and weaknesses. The advantage to nursing students was the ability to improve their interviewing skills in a safe educational environment before encountering these patients in a clinical experience. Both faculty and student evaluations of this experience support its integration into psychiatric undergraduate courses.