The role of nursing leaders and educators is more important than ever before. With the increasing demand for healthcare services, there is a need for nurses who can provide high-quality care and lead teams of nurses. Nursing leaders and educators play a vital role in ensuring that nurses can provide the best possible care to their patients.
America is facing a crisis threatening the education, training, and supply of registered nurses. This has been a long-standing and severe shortage of clinical preceptors and nurse faculty. The current number of clinical preceptors and nurse educators is insufficient to meet the current demand. It is widely accepted that addressing the shortage of nurse leaders and educators will improve the quality of patient care and the shortage of nurses.
The challenge for nursing educators is to prepare a new generation of nurses who are not only clinically competent but also have the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to provide safe, high-quality patient care. As the baby boomer generation ages and the demand for healthcare services increases, the need for qualified nurse leaders and educators will only become more acute. As such, America needs nurses since they play a critical role across the healthcare system; they serve as crucial providers and first responders in emergent conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic. These health professionals promote and support the wellness, health, and function of society.
Nursing leaders and educators play a vital role in shaping the future of healthcare. They work to ensure that nurses are prepared to meet the challenges of an ever-changing healthcare landscape. An Ed.D. in nursing can prepare you for a leadership role in nursing education or administration. It can also give you the skills you need to be an effective educator.
If you love to extract the big picture, 2-year Ed.D. online programs from Rockhurst University will give you the tools you need for an exciting career. The health care education concentration of the program has been designed for practicing nurses who want to take on leadership roles in their organizations or become educators. It is also a great way to advance your career and improve your earning potential. With an online Ed.D., you will be able to take on leadership roles in your field and make a difference in the lives of your students.
Transitions in education and health care demand new faculty expertise
With the current advancements in technology, the healthcare industry is rapidly transforming; to advance safety and quality, graduates and faculty need to keep abreast of technology in clinical environments and the classroom. One example of how technology is changing clinical care is the widespread use of electronic health records (EHRs) and the clinical learning environments they facilitate. These advances in technology, along with the current changes in the healthcare environment, are forcing a transformation in education. As such, it is vital that nurse educators and nurse leaders develop new knowledge and effectively incorporate this knowledge into their practice.
The healthcare workforce has undergone a major shift, with a large number of older, more experienced RNs retiring. This leaves healthcare organizations struggling to replace staff, increase productivity and provide safe, quality care. Nurses must be prepared to improve their clinical skills, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These are the skills they will need to be excellent educators and leaders in today’s healthcare system.
The future faculty will be more effective and efficient in engaging learning styles and student learning after integrating technology into their teaching. The need to develop effective technology tools and integrate them into the classroom is crucial to the success of our students.
The need for leaders and educators who have a deep understanding of technology in health care is critical. The vast majority of nurses do not have the technical knowledge that is required to utilize EHRs and other technology tools effectively in a clinical setting. Therefore, graduates who are more knowledgeable about technology will be well-positioned to advance their teaching skills, participate in innovative research projects, and lead teams of nursing students.
Diversity among Faculty
Diversity in student demographics and faculty offers a meaningful contribution and rich perspective to the research, clinical, and academic enterprise. As workforce diversity increases to create a climate of inclusion, there will be a growing need for educators committed to serving diverse communities who understand race and ethnicity, culture, and language.
As the workforce becomes increasingly diverse, nurses should have an understanding of the cultural and social diversity that exists in today’s healthcare environment. The ability to work with people from different backgrounds is vital in education and health care. Nurses who are more culturally sensitive will be able to help all people achieve better healthcare outcomes.
Cultural sensitivity among nursing professionals is a crucial part of patient care since it helps minimize communication barriers, leading to greater patient satisfaction and better clinical outcomes. Nurses can develop an awareness of cultural values and practices relevant to the diverse population they will serve. This will require, among other things, a need for healthcare professionals who understand and embrace diversity.
The role of clinical preceptors
Clinical preceptors play a critical role in training nursing students at clinical sites. Clinical preceptors are practicing RNs; they are not members of the nursing faculty. By having a one-on-one relationship with students, they help them understand the clinical setting, develop clinical competencies and skills, acclimate to the role of a professional RN, and gain practical working experience with patients in clinical environments.
The creation of clinical preceptors has positively impacted the healthcare industry, which has led to better outcomes and better patient care. Clinical preceptors are registered nurses (RNs) who have specialized nursing knowledge and promote the development of an environment in which students can improve their skills. They provide an academic role that emphasizes clinical practice in the academic setting and is involved with teaching and learning. These preceptors share a deep knowledge of their field of specialization with students both formally and informally.
The role of the clinical preceptor is not just to teach nursing skills but also to facilitate students’ development of professional judgment, problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking, and therapeutic values as they relate to patients and healthcare practice. They develop a common language and experience with students so that they have the tools necessary to build their own professional practice.
Addressing the nurse faculty shortage
Given the nursing school enrollment and growth in student interest, the production of the nurse workforce in the United States depends on the faculty’s willingness to teach and provide instruction as well as the ability to right-size the faculty workforce. Additionally, with the looming faculty retirements and growing attrition of faculty, an unknown impact on preceptors and faculty retirements has emerged resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the growing shortage of nurse faculty, qualified educators are in high demand across a broad spectrum of education, research, and clinical practice settings. Nursing students will benefit, and society will be better served if nurse educators are prepared and supported to assume leadership roles in the classroom. These new nurse educators will have a deeper understanding of technology integration, healthcare trends and advancements, cultural sensitivity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. As such, healthcare learning institutions need to find new ways to recruit, retain and advance nurse faculty.
The faculty shortage is a significant challenge for many institutions of higher education, and it affects the quality of nursing education. Because the nursing faculty shortage is a growing national concern, more solutions are needed to attract and retain quality faculty. Research shows that when confronted with the shortage of qualified nurse educators, some schools have responded by providing competitive salaries, academic promotion opportunities that include promotion to tenure-track positions, career flexibility, including reducing hours or job sharing, and creating family-friendly policies.
Federal and philanthropic support
Philanthropic organizations and federal agencies stepped up efforts to increase the diversity and number of nurses to pursue advanced nursing education. The initiative got traction after the “2011 Future of Nursing” report from the Institute of Medicine and the 2010 NACNEP report that addressed the nurse faculty shortage.
The federal government has provided generous funding and support for nursing education and research, which has helped recruit and retain faculty. In addition to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports research and educational initiatives in nursing education. The NSF’s Higher Education Research & Development program funds faculty-based research programs and institutes. With this diverse range of support, more and more nurses are being motivated to pursue advanced nursing degrees to join educator and faculty roles. Professional organizations like hospitals have also stepped in to support nurses with incentives and tuition reimbursement.
Public and private funding collaborations
The transition from classroom to clinical education has presented challenges such as decreased teaching quality and student success, particularly when the clinical teacher is not knowledgeable of curriculum content or not concerned with the transition to professional practice among students. As healthcare organizations seek to improve patient care, nursing faculty plays a critical role in translating science into practice. They have been expanding their expertise in translational research and healthcare informatics as well as leading many other efforts to promote innovation. This is a new direction for nursing education to consider.
The need for additional nursing faculty and the burgeoning of research in nursing education, therapeutics, and public health has fueled a wide range of collaborations between private foundations, academic institutions, industry, and professional organizations to further improve the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty. For example, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has provided financial backing to establish innovative models to attract top researchers and other healthcare professionals to academia.
Over the past decade, collaborations between regional and national philanthropies, the federal government, healthcare organizations, and businesses have supported nursing and nursing education through funding. These collaborations have set the stage for future nursing collaborations and other related health issues by increasing the available funding.
State board requirements for nursing preceptors and faculty
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has developed “Standards for Doctoral Education in Nursing,” which describes the requirements for graduate study, the education sequence, the faculty’s roles and responsibilities, the student’s roles and responsibilities, the organization of nurse education programs, and more. These standards distinguish between essential and desirable components for nurse faculty development. Academic institutions use them to guide decisions about nursing faculty education programs.
Nurse faculty requirements
The Standards for Doctoral Education in Nursing have been used to frame the discussion of what nurse faculty should be. The nursing faculty curriculum and coursework is very important when preparing nursing students for professional practice. Nurse educators, who are also clinicians and researchers, need to possess knowledge in preparation for patient care, clinical application of research evidence, health care policy development, clinical decision-making skills, and overall knowledge about the health care system.
The nursing faculty must have the skills and requisite knowledge to support a diverse population preparing to be in the nursing workforce. The nurse educator must possess knowledge of these three areas: clinical and patient care, the health care system, and nursing education. The nurse educator must have the academic qualifications to function effectively in the instruction of nursing students.
To become a nurse faculty member, nurses need to meet certain requirements at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. While graduate-level preparation is the gold standard in the science of nursing, many doctoral-prepared nurse educators lack adequate formal training in the science of teaching. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has developed standards for doctoral education in nursing which set out the types and levels of training required for entry into the specialty.
The requirements for teaching nursing faculty vary among individual state nursing boards. According to the NCSBN, candidates for nursing faculty should have the following:
- Graduate preparation in clinical practice.
- A doctoral or master’s degree in nursing.
- Graduate coursework in learning and teaching.
Doctoral preparation
Nurse faculty perform four key roles: instructor, researcher, administrator, and consultant. A doctoral degree is the highest academic credential available in nursing, as well as other fields of study. These advanced-level degrees equip nurse educators with the knowledge, experience, skills, and abilities to prepare graduate nursing students for clinical practice. Nurse educators need to have a solid background in the key areas of clinical and scientific nursing research to be able to translate their medical knowledge into clinical skills for students.
At the doctoral level, nursing is either practice-focused (DNP) or research-focused (Ph.D.). Nurses who choose the DNP program route can teach; however, the prevailing DNP programs are not designed to prepare graduates for faculty roles but focus more on advanced nursing practice. Similarly, graduates who pursue a Ph.D. in nursing can take on the role of a nurse educator or faculty member. To assume a faculty position, most current Ph.D. programs do not require preparation or coursework.
To ensure smooth transitions into the academic role, both DNP and Ph.D. programs should provide formal preparation for assuming an educator or faculty role. Research indicates that nurses who pursue educational roles and leave behind formal preparation end up leaving the profession within five years.
Preceptor requirements
Preceptors play a critical role in preparing students for clinical roles, as well as helping newly employed nurses and new graduates transition into their new roles. They are instrumental in promoting faculty-directed nursing experiences in real-life clinical settings.
Nurse preceptors’ requirements vary by state; in most states, to become a nursing preceptor, applicants must complete two or more consecutive years of graduate school and must meet the requirements set by their state board of nursing. Nurse educators not in doctoral programs may need to write a practicum for preceptorship. These practica can be completed during the first year of graduate school.
The requirements for preceptors in nursing are well outlined by the NCSBN. First, clinical preceptors must be educated above or at the level of nursing practice for which they are preparing students. And while they have an important educational role, they cannot occupy the place of nursing faculty. To be qualified, candidates must be registered nurses who have graduated within the last five years. They must also maintain their license or certification to practice nursing during the period of preceptorship.
Pursue an Ed.D. online program today and become an effective educator
There has been a growing chasm between the demand and supply of faculty to educate generations of nurses. And without multipronged, intentional investments, accountable, and coordinated initiatives, it is likely to widen. In the past, the number of qualified nurses with doctoral degrees has been supported by philanthropic federal, and other collaborative investments, which is not likely to continue in the long run. What is needed now are creative, bold, targeted, and collaborative approaches.
While the BSN or DNP fulfills many teaching requirements and prepares individuals for a variety of roles in the medical field, it does not necessarily qualify graduates for all teaching or clinical practice settings. But a 2-year Ed.D. online program will give you the training and experience you need to be a more effective educator or nurse faculty member.
