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.

Understanding Factors Influencing Nursing Faculty Departure and Intentions.

BACKGROUND: There is a known shortage of nursing faculty in academia. Understanding factors influencing the shortage will help to develop strategies to reduce it. PURPOSE: The purpose was to identify the underlying factors influencing the decisions of current and former nursing faculty to leave or consider leaving their teaching roles. METHODS: A cross-sectional state-level survey was distributed to licensed registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. The survey covered demographics, employment status, compensation, tenure, mentorship experiences, and significant factors affecting their decision-making. RESULTS: Of 496 nursing faculty responses (221 current, 275 former), low compensation, unrealistic workload, retirement, lack of appreciation, and personal/family issues were noted as significant reasons for leaving or considering departure. CONCLUSIONS: The study gives voice to various factors influencing nursing faculty's intention to leave and emphasizes the need to address issues of compensation, workload, and mentorship to mitigate faculty shortages.

Defying the Pandemic, Applications to Nursing Schools Increase.

But faculty shortages and other challenges continue to limit enrollment.

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.

Novel Pedagogical Training for Nursing Doctoral Students in Support of Remote Learning: A Win-Win Situation.

BACKGROUND: The need for faculty to educate prospective nurses is urgent: without sufficient nursing faculty, schools regularly reject qualified applicants, despite an increasing need for nurses. At the same time, many graduate-prepared nurses lack preparation in teaching and pedagogical frameworks. PROBLEM: Literature on how PhD programs in nursing prepare graduates for teaching indicates that there is typically more emphasis on research than pedagogical learning. APPROACH: With the shift to remote learning under the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of California Irvine created a Graduate Fellows program to provide support to faculty while offering graduate students education in pedagogy and remote learning. OUTCOMES: Fellows were satisfied and reported increased understanding of challenges in teaching and increasing comfort with nurse faculty roles. CONCLUSIONS: The collaborative efforts of fellows and faculty provided important resources at a critical time, and insights gained can inform similar projects in nursing faculty development.

Nurses International Open Educational Resources for Global Impact.

The Nurses international Open Educational Resources (NI-OER) directly addresses the global shortage of nurse educators by providing an open-access English-language curriculum for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The aim of the program is to provide educators in low- and middle-income countries with international standard content suitable for low-resource settings. The NI-OER include classroom lectures, references and learning resources, evaluation materials, and checklists for clinical practice. In order to meet local requirements, users can adapt the material according to the Creative Commons license. The development of evidence-based educator materials is a volunteer effort by two sponsoring organizations, Nurses International and the Bangladesh Health Project. Over time, additional resources and translations will be developed using communities of practice.

Conflicts Within the Discipline of Nursing: Is There a Looming Paradigm War?

This paper presents a view of the current sources of potential conflicts in the academic discipline of nursing. It suggests that these conflicts could lead, in the Kuhnian sense, to a paradigm war. The differing paradigms underlying the education and traditions of the PhD prepared nurse scientist/researcher/scholar and the DNP prepared nurse practitioner are a challenge for the discipline. DNP programs are swelling and faculty are needed to teach in these programs, and their position with regard to the usual rank and tenure structures of academe are not yet clear. Concern arises when the tenured PhD nurse scientist faculty numbers drop as the DNP faculty numbers increase. The body of nursing science is threatened as fewer students enter PhD programs and faculty retire. The DNP faculty paradigm does not provide for the rigor and preparation need to carry forward the disciplinary scientific knowledge mission. Rather than a fruitless war between the two paradigms, ways are suggested to fully embrace the differences as important to nursing, and to increase the number of PhD prepared nurse scientists.

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.

Transition to Nursing Academia: A Positive Experience.

The global nursing shortage has affected nursing faculty, as well as clinical nurses. Nurses practicing in the clinical setting are often recruited into vacant faculty positions. Educational training or experience may be lacking in recruited clinical nurses, which may contribute to the stress of transitioning into the faculty role. The scientific literature is fraught with negativity surrounding the transition experience into nursing academia. This qualitative study used semistructured interviews of eight clinical nurses who transitioned successfully into baccalaureate nurse educators. Four common themes were revealed, including Mentoring and Support, Collaboration, Camaraderie, and the additional Positive Aspects of flexibility, independence, and giving back to the next generation. This information will be valuable to nurses who are transitioning or considering moving into academic roles from clinical nursing positions. Academic nursing departments will also find the information valuable in the pursuit of healthy work environments and potential retention strategies for novice nurse educators. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2019;50(8):349-354.].

Narratives of Doctorally Prepared Nursing Faculty on Tenure Track: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: The process of transitioning to academia as a new faculty on tenure-track is complex. During a global nursing shortage and the rising number of nursing faculty needed, careful attention must be given to the consideration of retaining nursing faculty. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the experiences of DNP and PhD prepared faculty on tenure-track in academia through narrative stories. METHODS: A qualitative narrative design was used to explore doctorally prepared nursing faculty experiences with tenure-track. Viewed through the lens of postmodern feminism, 19 participants shared stories related to being a professional in academia striving for tenure status. RESULTS: Five themes of PhD and DNP faculty experiences on tenure-track were found: These themes existed under an umbrella storied pattern of needfulness. The interpreted themes included: (1) the ability to develop meaningful partnerships, (2) a necessity to balance responsibilities, (3) Destructive criticism is real, (4) I have value in academia, and (5) multifaceted coaching to produce achievement. CONCLUSION: The needs among faculty on tenure-track in nursing are similar, despite the achievement of a DNP or PhD. This emphasizes the necessity of uniformity related to appreciation and utilization of faculty, regardless of terminal degree.

Pedagogical Nursing Practice: Redefining nursing practice for the academic nurse educator.

The role of the nurse educator in the academy is one that is very complex in nature. It involves skills not only to be an effective educationalist, nurse researcher and active scholarly academic disseminating findings and new knowledge to enrich the healthcare arena, but still requires those skills that belong to that of an expert nurse. Academic nurse educators seem to have been distanced from the nursing discipline along the way. It is the author's intention to bring them back into the scope of the nursing profession, introduce and define her concept of Pedagogical Nursing Practice, and illustrate how much of a beacon the academic nurse educator truly is, in order for the profession to perpetuate and prosper.

Transitional Experiences: From Clinical Nurse to Nurse Faculty.

BACKGROUND: A limited pool of nurse faculty has affected enrollment of nursing students and the ability to produce the nursing workforce needed for the evolving health care system. The experiences clinical nurses face as they transition to the faculty role may contribute to the faculty shortage. METHOD: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of clinical nurses as they entered the nurse faculty role. A purposive sample was recruited from two higher learning institutions in the midwestern United States. Data analysis was performed using Colaizzi's method. RESULTS: Four themes emerged: Perpetual Novice, Faculty as a Resource, Teaching Ambiguity, and Student as My Patient. The prominent theme surrounded the idea that the faculty were in a state of constant change as a perpetual novice. CONCLUSION: Implications exist for academic nursing program administration to invest in developing nurse faculty skill level and ease the transition to the role. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(5):260-265.].

Part-Time Clinical Nursing Faculty Needs: An Integrated Review.

BACKGROUND: The faculty nursing shortage has been cited as a reason that qualified students are not admitted to nursing programs. Programs fill the faculty gap by relying on qualified, part-time faculty to teach clinical rotations. The purpose of this article was to review the evidence of what is needed for part-time clinical faculty as they assume the faculty role. METHOD: Using a systematic approach, 19 articles were included in this integrated review. RESULTS: Themes identified included Mandatory/Structured Orientation, Mentoring, Support, and Communication/Connection. Issues of Pay and Compensation and the Transient Nature of Year-to-Year Contract Work were also themes found in this review. CONCLUSION: Clinical education is imperative to developing safe, competent new nurses. Identifying the needs of part-time clinical faculty hired to reduce the impact of the faculty shortage is needed for continued program stability and ensuring continuity of the nursing faculty workforce. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(4):201-206.].

Alleviating the nurse faculty shortage: designating and preparing the academic nurse educator as an advanced practice registered nurse.

A lack of qualified nurse faculty is a persistent problem in the discipline of nursing. It limits the number of nurses prepared to provide safe, quality care in settings around the world. Many individuals, groups, and organizations have studied the nurse faculty shortage and recommended resolutions, yet the shortage persists. This opinion paper contends that designating the academic nurse educator (ANE) as an advanced practice registered nurse and identifying an educational pathway that ensures academic preparation for the role could help to alleviate the nurse faculty shortage. Evidence disseminated by national and international constituents that influence nursing and nursing education supports the perspective and serves as the basis for recommendations that could attract more nurses to faculty positions in nursing education and ensure preparation of ANEs for their role.

The impact of burnout on doctorate nursing faculty's intent to leave their academic position: A descriptive survey research design.

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that the great demands placed on many nursing faculty put them at high risk for job burnout; there are limited studies exploring the relationship between burnout and leaving their academic positions. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to address the national nursing faculty shortage by examining demographics, teaching preparation in the doctoral program, and burnout to determine intent to leave nursing academia among PhD and DNP-prepared nursing faculty. DESIGN: A descriptive survey research design was used to identify the most significant factors related to faculty intent to leave their academic position. SETTINGS: An online national survey of doctorate faculty throughout the U.S. was administered. PARTICIPANTS: Full-time nursing faculty who had earned a PhD or DNP degree in nursing with four or less years ofteaching experience after doctoral program graduation were recruited. METHODS: Data was collected from an the online survey posted on Qualtrics. Logistical regression models were used to interpret data significance. RESULTS: A total of 146 nursing faculty responded to the online survey. 51.4% of the respondents (n = 75) had a DNP degree and 48.6% (n = 71) had a PhD degree. 61% of the respondents were over the age of 50 with the remaining 39% of the respondents between ages 20 and 49. PhD-prepared faculty reported higher emotional exhaustion compared to DNP-prepared faculty. Findings revealed that degree type (PhD versus DNP), age, and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in burnout were significant predictors related to intent to leave nursing academia. CONCLUSIONS: To address the nursing faculty shortage issue, it is critical to create supportive and positive working environments to promote the well-being of nursing faculty, provide additional emotional support for the specific PhD-prepared faculty needs that contribute to burnout, and encourage nurses to begin an academic career earlier to help retain nursing faculty in academic settings.