Evaluating the Knowledge of Those Who Teach: Doctorally-Prepared Faculty Members' Performance on the Certified Nurse Educator Examination

Nursing faculty are charged with the professional responsibility of formally educating nurses to fill entry-level and advanced practice positions. Given their responsibility, it is essential that nurse educators are adequately prepared to provide a quality education to our nation’s nursing workforce. Unfortunately, nursing faculty earn doctorates at rates less than other academic disciplines and only 25% of academic nurse educators hold this degree (NLN, 2009). Of the limited number of nurses who do earn a doctoral degree, it has been asserted that most are not prepared for the faculty role because doctoral education does not adequately prepare its graduates for the multiple responsibilities required for employment in higher learning (Adams, 2002). This is attributed to a focus in doctoral education programs on the practice of nursing (Hathaway et al., 2006) and not the skills required for teaching, scholarship, and service (Adams, 2002). In a 2002 position statement, the National League for Nursing (NLN) advocated that the preparation for the nursing faculty role should be planned as well as deliberate and in September 2013, the NLN announced the development of a vision statement which will articulate the need for all doctoral programs to prepare nurse educators to teach (NLN, 2013). In an effort to gain insight about the relationship between nursing faculty members’ educational preparation and their knowledge about the full scope of the faculty role, a research study examining candidates’ performance on the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) was conducted. This presentation will outline the demographic characteristics of doctorally-prepared CNE candidates. An analysis of their overall performance and their performance in each of the examination content areas will be provided. Participants will gain insights about doctorally-prepared nurse educators’ knowledge about the full scope of the faculty role and will have the opportunity to discuss the implications of these research findings.