Background: The needs assessment provided a foundation for subsequent planning to address the nursing faculty shortage in regionally diverse nursing programs.
Method: In collaboration with 12 universities, colleges/community colleges, a mixed-methods approach comprised of web-based surveys, faculty focus-groups and interviews with deans/directors was undertaken over a two-year period. Faculty and administrators were invited to complete a needs assessment which included demographic and program information, their views on current approaches to address faculty staffing needs, identification of possible untapped resources, and potential solutions. A project-specific website was constructed to facilitate communication about the two-year project. The online survey, a 49 item, researcher constructed instrument, was available through a password-protected site to avoid duplicate submissions. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with statements using a Likert-type scale with options of “strongly disagree, disagree, unsure, agree, and strongly agree”. They were also asked to answer questions about which clinical specialties were most difficult to staff, the existence of organizational barriers to managing the faculty shortage, approaches to the faculty shortage that had already been tried, and what additional strategies they would consider.
Results: Faculty from twelve nursing programs, representing all geographic regions of the state, responded. In undergraduate programs the majority of respondents (53%) agreed/strongly agreed there were inadequate faculty for growth; 58% of respondents in graduate programs agreed there were inadequate part-time faculty for growth. Recruiting faculty from under-represented groups for both undergraduate and graduate teaching positions was identified as challenging by 90% and 87% of respondents respectively. Retaining faculty from under-represented groups was also viewed as difficult for both undergraduate (80%) and graduate faculty positions (56%). Strategies used by undergraduate programs to address the shortage of faculty included hiring more adjuncts, limiting enrollments, using simulations, and increasing clinical group size. At the graduate level, strategies that had been tried or might be considered included joint appointments between academic and health care organizations, “growing our own”, and delaying retirement. Organizational barriers reported by faculty at both levels included inadequate socialization and preparation of clinical faculty for their roles, need for further education in evaluating students, low salaries, and heavy teaching loads.
Implications/Conclusions: The nursing faculty shortage is affecting programs across Maryland in similar ways. Of particular concern is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining individuals from under-represented groups in nursing including those from racial and ethnic minorities and men. Current strategies of increasing clinical group size and limiting enrollments are short-term solutions at best. Increasing reliance on part-time faculty will require better preparation of clinicians-turned-educators to assure that quality instruction and oversight is provided. At the graduate level, when enrollments in master’s and doctoral level programs are capped, the pipeline for future educators is likewise restricted. While this needs assessment did not provide any clear-cut solutions, it did provide statewide data in a single place and opened dialogue across programs. Given this infrastructure, future initiatives can be implemented, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness in utilization of precious faculty resources while addressing the need for increasing capacity in all nursing education programs.