 |
Background:
The number of individuals available to teach in schools of nursing or provide educational leadership in service settings decreases as more nurse educators retire, fewer schools offer graduate programs designed to prepare nurse educators, funding for nurse educator preparation and to support nursing education research fails to increase, health care facilities cut education staff in an attempt to achieve a more positive “bottom line,” and more nurses choose to pursue independent, lucrative positions as advanced practice nurses. Indeed, a real shortage of nurse educators exists. In addition, it becomes increasingly difficult to retain nurse educators when multiple roles and responsibilities exist, budget are being cut, salaries often are not competitive, and there are not enough hours in the work week to “get it all done.” The development of effective strategies to recruit and retain nurse educators is an immediate priority.
Purpose of the Task Group:
The Task Group will be expected to develop and disseminate strategies and mechanisms to recruit and retain an adequate supply of qualified nurse educators to meet the learning needs of students and nurses in academic and service settings.
Specific Tasks to be Completed:
- Based on the results of recent NLN surveys of and about faculty, develop and disseminate benchmarks and tool kits for recruitment and retention programs.
- Develop a plan for ongoing evaluation of the success of these programs, including time frames and plans for future surveys.
- Develop a position paper that describes optimum work environments that foster the pursuit of excellence and innovation in nursing education.
- Develop a position paper that outlines appropriate promotion and tenure criteria and weighting of activities that promote the scholarship of teaching.
- Develop a position paper that defines the role of senior faculty in mentoring new faculty and providing leadership in educational research.
- Establish and monitor an electronic community for discussion of faculty salaries, workload, working conditions, and other topics that affect faculty recruitment and retention.
- Establish and monitor an electronic community to discuss measures to promote positive relationships among administrators, faculty and students.
- Contribute new articles and resources on the topic of recruitment and retention of nurse educators to the NLN data repository.
- Examine the satisfaction of nurse educators in the same role and the same setting at 2- year, 5- year, and 10-yearcareer points.
BACK TO TOP |
