Students as Future Colleagues: RN-BSN Students’ Intent to Pursue the Academic Nurse Educator Role

Purpose: Developing nurse researchers who can advance the science of nursing education begins by identifying nurses who show promise for, and an interest in, the academic nurse educator (ANE) role. Current ANEs teaching in RN-BSN programs interact with students who are clinically skilled, have experience teaching in the clinical setting, and therefore, show promise for the role. The purpose of this presentation is to share findings of a multisite, multi-method study that identified RN-BSN students’ intent to become an ANE and innovative strategies to increase the number of students who pursue the role.

Methods: T wo research questions guided the inquiry: 1. What is the RN-BSN students’ intent to pursue a future nursing faculty role and the requisite graduate nursing education? and 2. Using constructs of social cognitive career theory (SCCT), what differences exist between RN-BSN students who indicate high intent and students who indicate low intent for a future nursing faculty role? Participants included students enrolled in an RN-BSN program at one private and four public universities in North Carolina. A demographic survey, Supports and Barriers for Pursuing a Future Nursing Faculty Role (Cronbach alpha 0.84-0.88), Self-Efficacy to Learn Nursing faculty role and Complete a Graduate Degree (Cronbach alpha 0.88), Inspiration and Modeling Subscale of the Influence of Others on Academic Career Decisions Scale (Cronbach alpha 0.81-0.81), Outcome Expectations Scale (Cronbach alpha 0.81-0.92), and Interests in Activities of the Faculty Role (Cronbach alpha 0.89) were used to collect data.

Results: Twenty percent (20%) of the 137 RN-BSN students who completed the electronic survey indicated that in the future, they intend to pursue a nursing faculty role. Unfortunately, of those who intend to pursue ANE role, few (11%) plan to enroll in a PhD program and only 21% in a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. The SCCT construct of receiving encouragement from current faculty was statistically significant for student intent to pursue the ANE role.

Conclusion: Implications, including strategies that faculty can use to influence student intent and the number of RN-BSN-prepared nurses who choose careers as ANEs, will be explored during this interactive session.