Cultivation of a Scarce Resource: Nursing Faculty

Abstract

President 's Message While the growing crisis in the shortage of nurses continues to receive national attention, the concurrent concern regarding the adequacy of qualified for schools of nursing is escalating. Most schools of nursing, at all levels of educational endeavor, are reporting recruitment issues. Some of these difficulties are related to specific content areas, while other schools report a complete inability to fill vacant nursing positions. The factors underlying this scarcity are multiple and interrelated. Although the development of higher education in nursing historically included an option at the graduate level to emphasize teaching of nursing and the role, opportunities in advanced practice shifted the emphasis in graduate education to refinement of the clinical role. This trend has had a strong and positive effect on improving the provision of primary and acute care services available to our patients. During the nineties, as these changes in nursing education occurred, there was a commitment and belief that doctoral education would expand, and that recruitment would be accomplished through an anticipated pool of new members. Unfortunately, the expansion in doctoral education has not been adequate to compensate for the graying of the faculty and their retirement, nor to offset the attractiveness the advanced practice role has for many nurses in preference to a career in higher education. Certainly, a number of qualified nurse practitioners combine their love of practice and their commitment to education in a dual emphasis for their careers. There are too few of these individuals, however, to fill the mounting void in a prepared nurse education workforce. The NLN is concerned about these trends and committed to being responsive to the needs of and for nurse faculty. The establishment of the Nursing Workforce Development Advisory Council is indicative of this awareness. The purpose of NWDAC is to provide leadership for the advancement of the lifelong learning goals of nurses whose primary role is education in academic, practice, or other service settings. Specific goals include the development of action plans to recruit and retain individuals in the nurse educator role, promote the value of educational practice, and foster the development of the nurse educator workforce. A number of task forces will be established to accomplish NWDAC goals and assist educators in achieving the support they need to provide excellence in instruction. Many of the new members of the academic community in nursing have had little, if any, preparation for the role. As a result, they must develop the basic skills of teaching, including course and curriculum development, testing and evaluation processes, and dimensions of the role in the overall development of the discipline within the academic setting. …