Academic nursing centers: a demographic profile.

Abstract

In order to identify academic nursing centers, a questionnaire was sent to the dean or director of all 427 schools or colleges of nursing with National League of Nursing (NLN)-accredited baccalaureate programs. Of the 331 schools responding, 51 had academic nursing centers. Demographic data were obtained, including location, affiliation, size of the school, degrees offered, and presence of other practice facilities. According to the data, the school operating a nursing center is most often a public university or college, but is not part of an academic health science center. It offers a master's degree in nursing, and may have a doctoral program. The typical school is large, with more than 35 faculty members and more than 200 junior and senior students. Its administrative policies probably do not support faculty practice, but it may be more supportive than its counterparts without nursing centers. The 51 academic nursing centers are listed, and a review of the literature is presented. The author discusses the need for further research to evaluate the centers' success in meeting their goals of providing student experience, faculty practice, research, and community service.