A strong, positive correlation between educator competence and academic performance has been established (Gulistan, Hussain, & Mushtaq, 2017). Nurse educators who firmly understand pedagogical principles and incorporate them into the learning environment foster learners’ problem-solving skills and improve student outcomes (Lucernario, Yangco, Punzalan, & Espinosa, 2016). Increasingly, nurse educators who hold the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) are being hired into faculty roles (Oermann, Lynn, & Agger, 2015). Competence of DNP-prepared nurse educators has been scrutinized because the practice-based curriculum is void of the pedagogical principles that underpin traditional research-based doctorates (Agger, Lynn, & Oermann, 2017). Although nurse educator competencies are prevalent, they have been universally applied to educators regardless of academic preparation. The assumption that DNP-prepared nurse educators are competent in teaching roles should not be made. This research compares competence of DNP- and PhD-prepared nursing faculty in academic teaching roles.
Methods:
A descriptive, cross-sectional design was utilized to examine the construct of competence among DNP- and PhD-prepared educators at a large, public, research university. The final sample consisted of 34 participants, of which 19 were DNP-prepared and 14 were PhD-prepared. Participants were asked to rate their ability to perform the behaviors associated with the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012) using a 5-point Likert scale aligned with Dreyfus’ Five-Stage Model of Adult Skills Acquisition (2004), where 1 = Novice, 2 = Advanced Beginner, 3 = Competent, 4 = Proficient and 5 = Expert. The independent samples t-test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between DNP- and PhD-prepared participants’ self-reported level of ability to complete the tasks associated with the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012).
Results:
Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances supported the assumption that variances were equal across both groups. The mean Dreyfus' Five-Stage Model of Adult Skills Acquisition (2004) score for the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012) (M= 3.54, SD= 0.58) among DNP-prepared participants was 3.54. The mean Dreyfus' Five-Stage Model of Adult Skills Acquisition (2004) score for the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012) (M= 4.00, SD= 0.70) among PhD-prepared participants was 4.00.
Conclusion:
This study found that DNP-prepared participants felt somewhere between competent and proficient in their ability to perform behaviors associated with the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012). PhD-prepared participants felt proficient in their ability to perform behaviors associated with the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators (NLN, 2012). Results of this study demonstrated that DNP-prepared participants reported lower levels of skill acquisition scores in their academic teaching roles than PhD-prepared participants.
Identifying specific nurse educator competencies that DNP-prepared faculty feel less able to perform may facilitate the development of policies and pedagogical resources to support recruitment, mentoring and retention initiatives for DNP-prepared nurse educators. Illuminating the concept of competence among DNP-prepared nursing faculty provides an opportunity for educational practice and policy to target pedagogical resources to support skill acquisition among DNP-prepared nurse educators.