Recruiting and retaining nursing faculty in a Texas Community College System: A strategy focused on collaboration and support
Article Outline
- Abstract
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Obstacles versus strategies in addressing the nursing faculty shortage
- 3. Establishment of a nurse-friendly public workforce board
- 4. Supporting nursing education through state legislative funding
- 5. A blueprint for success in nursing faculty professional development
- 6. Assessment: Establishing the needs of nursing faculty
- 7. Planning: Meeting the needs of nursing faculty
- 8. Implementation: From drawing board to reality
- 9. Evaluation: Surpassing modest expectations
- 10. Conclusion
- References
- Copyright
Abstract
This article describes a dynamic collaboration between a Texas Community College Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program and a local workforce board and state institution to implement an initiative to recruit and retain nursing faculty. Grant funds were the catalyst in the development of professional development workshops to train new nurse educators. ADN leaders should form alliances as an innovative strategy to diminish the interdependent nursing and nursing faculty shortages.
Keywords: Collaboration, Alliance, Nursing faculty shortage
1. Introduction
The severe nursing shortage continues to plague the country with a predicted need for 1 million new nurses by 2010 (Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas, 2004). The U.S. Department of Labor (2005) has identified registered nursing as the top occupation in terms of job growth through the year 2012. Although nurses are in extreme demand, approximately 2,800 qualified nursing school applicants were refused admission to Texas nursing schools in Fall 2001. The reason is the lack of nursing faculty (Texas Hospital Association, 2003, Texas Nurses Association, 2003). The nursing faculty shortage is related to the current nursing shortage. New and innovative interventions are needed to reduce both deficits. With more than 60% of new nurses receiving their basic nursing training through associate degree nursing (ADN) programs (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2005), nursing practice looks to community colleges for a cure to this ailment. Equally, nursing academic leaders recognize that they cannot resolve this crisis alone.
2. Obstacles versus strategies in addressing the nursing faculty shortage
As need for sufficient nursing faculty reaches a critical state, obstacles contributing to this faculty decline have been identified. One survey (Douglas, 2002) identified four limitations within the Texas nursing education system contributing to the nursing faculty shortage: the aging nursing faculty workforce, barriers to recruiting and retaining qualified faculty, declining enrollments in nursing education programs, and underrepresentation of minority groups representing nursing faculty and students. The average age for nursing faculty is 52, with 50% of nursing faculty reaching retirement age within the next 6 years (Texas Hospital Association and Texas Nurses Association, 2003). Faculty salaries are noncompetitive, with a US$20,000–30,000 discrepancy between faculty and their nursing counterparts working in hospitals or private settings (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2002). Many nurses in graduate programs are choosing advanced nursing practice over nursing education.
Multiple strategies have been developed to address the nursing faculty shortage. Financial incentives and scholarships have been proposed to bridge the gap between nurse educators and their nurse counterparts outside the academia. Aggressive marketing and flexible scheduling add to the creative solutions offered to resolve the nursing faculty deficit. Alliances between nursing schools and health care facilities have been established to resolve the supply of nursing faculty, with the focus on positively impacting the nursing shortage (U.S. Department of Health, 2005). Coalitions, nursing associations, research, and campaigns have highlighted nursing as an attractive career choice in an effort to bring qualified applicants to nursing school doors. We now are confronting these sought-after recruits with barriers to admission due to the inadequate number of nursing faculty. Further considerations related to expanding nursing school enrollments include securing clinical sites, classroom space, and budget restraints (AACN, 2002).
Local and statewide initiatives emerged in Texas to provide support in resolving the interdependent nursing and nursing faculty shortages. Locally, a public workforce board was established in the Houston area as well as in the surrounding Harris County, TX, area, focusing on nursing and the health care industry. Statewide, the passage of nursing legislation provided grant funding with the dual focus of student retention and increasing the number of nursing faculty, which are both outcomes of increasing the registered nurse (RN) supply.
3. Establishment of a nurse-friendly public workforce board
In 2001, The Workforce Board and the Greater Houston Partnership, a regional Chamber of Commerce, established WorkSource to serve the city of Houston, the balance of Harris County, and the surrounding 12 counties, which include the 4th largest city and 10th largest metropolitan region within the United States, with 5 million residents and 100,000 businesses dispersed over a 12,000 square-mile region. The WorkSource Board has 63 members, with the majority representing industry, and is focused on providing a better prepared, better skilled workforce, a growing economy, and a vital community.
The organization is based on the core values of innovation, productivity, accountability, and results and acknowledges the need to serve both the supply side (the resident) and the demand side (the employer) of the equation. The vision statement asserts that a commitment to these changes will result in more competitive employers, a better educated workforce, more and better jobs within the region, elevated incomes for the residents, and an increasing return on investment.
The high-demand industries for the region were identified, and subgroups for each industry were formed. Naturally, one of these groups was the health care industry. The Health Service Steering Committee is composed of hospital executives, business leaders, and representatives from institutions of higher education with nursing programs. This joint effort is a long-term initiative designed to build ongoing relationships of mutual trust and benefit between employers in industry groups and their education, training, and human resource suppliers. The education partners included the five universities and the nine community colleges that have nursing programs in the Texas Gulf Coast region.
The Health Service Steering Committee's mission is to help the regional health care industry find the skilled workers it needs to compete in the global economy and to provide high-quality health care for residents now and in the future. It is committed to solving the RN shortage in local hospitals. The committee has established the following goals that need to be accomplished by 2010:
This committee plans to achieve these goals by (1) increasing enrollments in area nursing schools (particularly those students seeking initial licensure as RNs), (2) increasing the percentage of these enrollees who graduate and go to work in regional hospitals, (3) improving the work environment in hospitals to improve nurse retention, and (4) improving the race and gender diversity of the hospital workforce to mirror the composition of the region's population.
Four workgroups were established by the Health Services Steering Committee: Marketing Career Opportunities in Health Care (especially nursing), Enhancing Educational Capacity and Increasing Access, Addressing the Internal Challenge: Improving the Work Environment in Hospitals, and Making Government a Facilitating Partner. A hospital chief executive officer and a board chair, or chief nursing officer, chair each workgroup. One of the greatest benefits of the Enhancing Educational Capacity and Increasing Access Workgroup is the strong collaboration between the hospitals and the schools of nursing. This collaboration has led to the identification of problems and the formation of partnerships to pool resources to accomplish the group's goals. Because of the strong collaboration and partnerships, the group has been successful in gaining several competitive grants.
The combined activities of the Health Services Steering Committee and the four workgroups have produced the following: an increase in 533 nursing students in 3 years, graduation of an additional 179 students (22%), hospital contributions of staff qualified to teach in area nursing schools, and the contribution of local foundations providing more than US$900,000 to supplement nurse faculty salaries and fund additional teaching positions to help ameliorate the critical faculty shortage that prevents further enrollment increases in area nursing schools.
4. Supporting nursing education through state legislative funding
Grant funding for Texas RN programs is provided by the Nursing, Allied Health, and Other Health-Related Education Grant Program (NAHGP), a statewide program established by the Texas Legislature in 1999 as a result of the multistate tobacco lawsuit settlement. As the program's name suggests, the NAHGP was originally intended to support educational programs in a variety of health disciplines; however, in 2001, nursing interest groups lobbied successfully to have NAHGP funds redirected exclusively to nursing education through 2007. Approximately US$2 million in grant funds are available each year to support initiatives to increase nursing enrollments and retain nursing students and faculty in initial RN licensure program.
Since its inception, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the state agency that oversees higher education institutions in Texas, has administered the program. In that capacity, the board wanted to first fulfill the immediate goal of producing more nursing graduates and, thus, reduce the professional nursing shortage in the state; however, it also had a number of other objectives. The board wanted to develop communication between nursing programs in the state and to foster collaboration among those programs. This was accomplished by requiring programs that applied for grants to partner with one or more other nursing programs, even programs at different levels of initial RN instruction (i.e., an ADN program partnering with a baccalaureate nursing [BSN] program). It also wanted schools to leverage grant award funds with funds from other sources. The grant awards process gave additional points to proposals that could show matching funds from sources other than state-sponsored institutions and agencies. All NAHGP grants were awarded based on a standardized, peer-reviewed evaluation process.
The first grant competition in Fall 2001 awarded 1- and 2-year grants for new or expanded initiatives to promote the recruitment and, to a lesser extent, retention of nursing students and faculty. Once it was apparent that those initiatives were successful in attracting qualified applicants to nursing, later competitions focused primarily on student retention efforts and on supporting new and existing faculty and graduate nursing students. The second competition in Fall 2003 divided available funds among three sizes of awards. The board awarded small grants of US$5,000–15,000 to meet the immediate needs of students and faculty. Medium grants of US$20,000–50,000 were awarded for local projects that promoted student retention and the recruitment or retention of eligible or potential faculty. Finally, the board awarded a few large grants of US$100,000–300,000 to support projects that had regional or statewide implications in improving student retention and recruiting and retaining nursing faculty. Grants from the second competition ended on August 31, 2005.
Since the second competition, the board also awarded two very large NAHGP grants, totaling US$2.8 million, to fund 3-year pilot projects that test new clinical instruction models and the extended use of clinical preceptors. Both promise to increase capacity in nursing programs.
In the most recent NAHGP competitions held in Fall 2005, the board again divided grant funding among three separate competitions, two of which have been completed. The first competition promoted “regionalization,” a concept that encourages nursing programs to share faculty, instructional or clinical space, and other resources. The second competition recruited six nursing faculty members from different regions of the state to research student retention and prepare a study that identifies effective strategies to increase graduation rates in initial licensure nursing programs. The fourth competition responds, in part, to the results of the study. The board will award a grant to a nursing program in the state to plan and host a statewide conference on nursing student success. The conference, to be held in Spring 2007, will be the culmination of the work of the six nursing faculty members as well as an opportunity for leaders in health education to discuss the results of their research, the application of special initiatives, or both to promote nursing student success.
5. A blueprint for success in nursing faculty professional development
The North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD) is a large community college district in southeast Texas, which is composed of five college campuses. In 2002, NHMCCD received approval from the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners to expand the current two ADN programs to five for initial RN students, establishing an ADN program at each college site. This initiative increased annual district-wide ADN admissions from 140 to 230 students and the need for additional full-time and adjunct master's-prepared nursing faculty.
Using the collaboration of the WorkSource Board, NHMCCD led the grant proposal team, which included a partnership with a BSN university program, five additional ADN programs, a large medical center hospital, and the WorkSource Board. In September 2003, NHMCCD was awarded a large 2-year US$299,000 grant for nursing faculty development. A significant quantity of the funds requested would be allocated to 10 nursing faculty development workshops over a 2-year period, for new, novice, and experienced faculty members. The nursing process (assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation) was the guide through both the grant development and implementation.
6. Assessment: Establishing the needs of nursing faculty
An advisory committee composed of graduate and undergraduate nursing faculty, nursing program directors, and hospital staff educators was formed. The grant coordinators wanted to elicit the needs of both novice and experienced faculty members. A “One-Minute Faculty Survey” composed of two questions was designed. Faculty members were first asked to complete this sentence: If I had US$100,000 to spend to recruit and develop nursing faculty, I would _________. The second question asked faculty members to name three competencies they wished they had before beginning their career as a nurse educator. The survey was administered to faculty of the grant partner nursing schools.
The responses to the first question demonstrated that faculty members were interested in enrolling in faculty development courses geared to nursing academia. They recognized that their clinical expertise was not enough to prepare them to be competent educators. In response to the second question, highly requested topics included curriculum design, dealing with multicultural/multigenerational students, interactive classroom management, teaching critical thinking, the use of instructional technology, clinical evaluation, test item writing, and statistical test analysis. Although these suggested topics gave the committee a good base to plan workshops, the grant coordinators also considered what was missing. Traditionally, nursing faculty members are interested in the legal implications of nursing education, and this was included in the topics list.
As a result of the faculty survey, the advisory committee's recommendations, and a review of the Southern Regional Education Board (2002) Nurse Educator Competencies, the following categories of possible workshop topics included
7. Planning: Meeting the needs of nursing faculty
When the soft thud of the grant award arrived, the initial excitement was short lived, and planning became the immediate focus to meet timelines for the first workshop. The advisory committee determined that there were six factors that would both encourage and entice current and potential faculty to relinquish an entire 8-hour day to attend a workshop: timing, cost, continuing education units (CEUs), quality programs, suitable sites, and food. The advisory committee consulted education calendars to be certain that the dates of the workshops did not conflict with school vacations or final examination weeks. The cost of the workshop would be covered by grant funds, and CEUs would be provided by the medical center grant partner.
The search for quality speakers on our identified topics was accomplished by using personal resources and the Internet. Faculty members who had attended a recent professional development conference were asked to identify their favorite speakers. The goal was to locate speakers who not only had the expertise but also could engage an audience. A Web search of recent nursing conferences revealed the names of nationally known speakers, and these names were searched through Google to find out more about their professional experience, availability, and speaking fees. A list of speakers and their topics is seen in Table 1.
Table 1. Nursing faculty workshops
| Know White and the Seven Learners Plus One: Building Bridges |
 Michele Deck, MEd, BSN, RN, LCCE, FACCE |
| ABCs of the Cyberworld: Teaching and Learning With Technology |
| Gail Baumlein, PhD, RN, CNS |
| Critical Thinking in Nursing Practice |
| Jere Hammer, MSN, RN; Daira Munn, MSN, RN |
| Incorporating the NCLEX Blueprint Into Your Program |
| Pat Allen, PhD, RN |
| Critical Thinking & Test Item Writing: A HESI Workshop for Faculty |
| Ainslie T. Nibert, PhD, RN |
| When Students Threaten to Sue Faculty: Myths and Misconceptions About Legal Issues |
| Judge Jean DiMotto, JD, MSN, RN |
| Powerful Storytelling: Creating Connections for Learning |
| Patricia Yoder-Wise, EdD, RN, CNAA, FAAN; Karen Kowalski, PhD, RN, FAAN |
| Developing an Evidence-Based Approach to Clinical Evaluation |
| Donna Ignatavicius, MS, RN, Cm |
| Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs): Basics and Beyond (A Guide for Nursing Instructors) |
| Michael Hutton, MSN, RN |
| The Latest and Greatest Ways to Teach Television Learners |
| Michele Deck, MEd, BSN, RN, LCCE, FACCE |
8. Implementation: From drawing board to reality
Once the advisory committee established workshop dates and topics, speakers were contracted and implementation began. Each nurse using the nursing process knows that successful implementation cannot occur without delegation of tasks. Fortunately, the proposal included funding for a part-time support staff member whose responsibilities included conference marketing and registration, food arrangements, communication with the site staff, arranging accommodations for speakers, preparing workshop handouts, management and tracking of evaluations and other participant surveys, workshop correspondence, and assisting with budget management.
In a large metropolitan city, there is no single site that is convenient to everyone. More important considerations were free parking, good technological support, adequate seating, and sufficient space for exhibitors. The workshops were held at various NHMCCD campuses. The grant was unable to support lunch for the workshops; therefore, committee members asked local hospital affiliates, uniform suppliers, textbook vendors, medical equipment suppliers, and nursing program testing companies to underwrite the cost of meals. All but two of the workshops were funded in this manner.
9. Evaluation: Surpassing modest expectations
The grant proposal stated two outcomes for the workshops. The first outcome stated that 80 nurse educators would participate in at least three workshops. In fact, more than 150 nurses participated in the 10 workshops, with 87% more CEUs awarded than originally anticipated. Academic nurse educators were not the only workshop attendees. This initiative attracted hospital nurse educators, undergraduate and graduate nursing students, college administrators, and WorkSource Board members.
The second outcome stated that participants would self-report perceived improvement on postworkshop surveys. As an ongoing evaluation and to comply with Texas Nurses Association CEU guidelines, participants were surveyed after each workshop. The survey asked participants whether workshop objectives were met and if the presenter was effective; it also solicited suggestions for future topics. Their feedback was instrumental in providing a second session by Donna Ignatavicius on innovative curricula, additional workshops on faculty use of personal digital assistants, and a clinical simulation.
10. Conclusion
At the termination of the grant, NHMCDD hired four nurse educators; all were attendees of the grant workshops. Additionally, novice educators were trained in topics related to their new nursing field, academia. Experienced educators refreshed their skills and discovered many innovative approaches to classroom, laboratory, and clinical instruction. An unexpected outcome of the workshops was the collaboration of nurse educators not only across the region but also across the state and their sharing of teaching strengths and strategies.
The interdependent nursing and nursing faculty shortages must be resolved collectively. Equally, local and state support systems are imperative in providing resources, collaboration, and funding to ultimately reach the goal of increasing the RN supply. Nursing leaders in both practice and academia should work in partnership to develop strategic plans for nursing legislation, which will impact the nursing workforce growth. ADN programs should demonstrate confidence in recruiting supporters, developing policies, and leading initiatives that have a direct relationship to the recruitment of new and novice faculty and the retainment of experienced nurse educators.
References
- . Nursing faculty shortage sheet. AACN Bulletin. 2002, January;Retrieved February 1, 2003, from http://ww.aacn.nche.edu
- . Rules and regulations relating to the professional nurse education, licensure, relating to the professional nurse education, licensure, and practice. Austin, TX: Author; 2004;
- . Invitation forum on nursing education. Texas Nursing. 2002;76(2):10
- . NCLEX statistics from NCSBN. Retrieved July 28, 2005, from ww.ncsbn.org2005;
- . Texas needs more nurses. Austin, TX: Author; 2003;
- . Texas nurse association legislative update. Austin, TX: Author; 2003, February;
- . Projected supply, demand, and shortages of registered nurses: 2000–2003. Retrieved March 6, 2003, from http://bhpr.hrsa/gov/healthworkforce/rnproject/report.htm2005;
PII: S1557-3087(06)00027-8
doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.04.002
© 2006 National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.