Assessment of Nursing Faculty Development Needs: An Evidence-Based Approach

As the largest public university in the country, the City University of New York graduates over 1000 nurses each year and is the largest supplier of registered nurses in the New York metropolitan area. This culturally diverse pool of qualified nurses is educated to provide quality health care to the broad spectrum of the population. Comprised of twelve schools of nursing spanning the range from LPN to PhD, CUNY nursing schools employ over 400 nursing faculty both full time and adjunct. Like many nursing programs across the country, it is experiencing a nursing faculty shortage, which is anticipated to grow, as older faculty retire. Many new faculty come from the ranks of the clinical preceptors and adjuncts. However, clinical expertise is often not sufficient to transition to the role of nurse educator, and many graduate programs do not address the educator role. It has been reported nationally, that junior faculty have high rates of job dissatisfaction, which can impact retention and recruitment of limited faculty. As well, faculty shortages are often cited as major reason for turning away thousands of potential nursing students each year. Additionally, with changes in health care delivery, technological advancements, and demands for scholarship and  research, even experienced faculty are in need of new knowledge and skills. Not unlike many other academic institutions, the university does not have a central, formalized nursing faculty development program to recruit and support new and experienced faculty in their transition to the role of educator, researcher or scholar.  This paper describes the experience of researching, developing and implementing a faculty development needs assessment survey among the nursing faculty of this large urban, publicly funded university. Findings are reported and recommendations made for addressing professional development.