The overarching goal for nurse educators — in schools and hospitals — is to ensure quality of care
The overarching goal for nurse educators — in schools and hospitals — is to ensure quality of care
There’s always some catching up to do as a nurse. Whether it’s completing a course about administering medication or learning how to operate the latest electronic patient-lift equipment, constant education in this rapidly changing occupation is a must.
And nurse educators are right there every step of the way.
“It’s kind of the best of both worlds because we get the patient contact we all love, and we get to teach as well,” says Kathy Phillips, chairwoman of the nursing department at GTCC.
Serious shortfalls
That dual role, however, presents a unique challenge for nurse educators in both academia and clinical settings: train new and current nurses in an effort to not only provide competent and educated personnel, but also to raise retention rates in an occupation already facing a massive shortfall. The demand for nurses is expected to increase 2 percent to 3 percent each year while supply remains sluggish, according to “The Future of the Nursing Workforce in the United States: Data, Trends and Implications,” a national study released earlier this year. Turnover, retirements and an increase in demand for health care services, especially as baby boomers age, are some of the contributing factors to the nursing shortage.
On a national scale, it may seem like a monumental task for nursing colleges, which under current conditions cannot graduate enough nursing students to make up for the shortfall. The N.C. Center for Nursing (NCCN) says that more than 7,000 qualified applicants were turned away by entry-level nursing programs in 2007. And more than 1,100 qualified applicants were turned away from North Carolina baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs last year, primarily due to a shortage of faculty, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
“Efforts to address the nursing shortage must focus on addressing the nurse faculty shortage as a priority,” AACN associate executive director Robert Rosseter stated in an e-mail. “Faculty shortages at nursing schools across the country are limiting student capacity at a time when the need for professional registered nurses continues to grow. Budget constraints at schools of nursing, an aging faculty and increasing job competition from clinical sites have contributed to this crisis.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than half of all nurses work in hospitals, and a majority of the rest work for other direct-care employers such as public health departments, home care service providers and nursing homes. The BLS projects that more than 1 million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2016, making it the nation’s fastest-growing occupation.
Associate, bachelor’s and beyond
Generally, a registered nurse in North Carolina holds a minimum of an associate degree from an accredited community college and has passed the state licensure exam.
Requirements are higher for faculty and other educators, and include a combination of clinical experience and a master’s degree in nursing.
That advanced education is demanding but worth the extra mile for nurses like Kim Mays. “I felt that, with my experience and my education, that I had a lot to give to the nurses to help them grow professionally,” says Mays, one of about a dozen nurse educators with Moses Cone Health System.
A nurse for 23 years, Mays worked in Moses Cone’s cardiac surgical intensive care unit before switching to the education department with “an understanding of what (nurses) needed and how they needed it presented to them.”
Mays is primarily in charge of orienting new nurses during their first year out of school. She teaches classes on subjects such as new technology, CPR and patient safety.
Mays, now 53, graduated from UNCG in 2001 with master’s degrees in nursing and business, the latter of which she says has helped her when budgeting education programs for the 2,645 nurses who work for Moses Cone Health System.
Being fiscally responsible is an important part of her job, and by extension results in better patient care. “If we are not frugal with our money then we won’t have the resources to take care of patients,” Mays says.
They teach, therefore they do
Although they may be another step away from direct patient care, nursing faculty aren’t exactly on the sidelines either. Nationally, 73 percent of vacant faculty positions for the 2008-2009 academic year involve clinical instruction, according to the AACN.
Phillips, 53, says full-time faculty positions at GTCC tend to remain filled; more often the nursing department needs to hire part-time teachers. Nurses who have a master’s degree in nursing are preferable, she says, but they accept nurses with a minimum of two years of clinical experience and a bachelor’s degree in nursing who are moving toward a master’s.
“Most are working another job in nursing somewhere and want to teach part time,” Phillips says.
Many full-time faculty at UNCG spend time each week working in clinical settings with their students, says Eileen Kohlenberg, 54, associate dean for graduate programs in the School of Nursing and president of the N.C. Nurses Association.
Kohlenberg says UNCG’s nursing school has requested a new building on campus in an effort to expand the program, but the economy and state budget constraints may prevent any immediate action.
In the meantime, UNCG continues to offer its “2-Plus” program, a popular route for nurses with an associate degree who want to complete a bachelor’s degree through two additional years of education and training. These students often go on to work toward a master’s degree and even a doctorate, Kohlenberg says, qualifying them to teach at community colleges and universities, as well as making them prime candidates for advanced nursing positions in the private sector.
Indeed, nurses with advanced degrees do not necessarily go on to become educators in academia. Salaries for jobs in clinical settings can be substantially higher, often pushing many graduate degree-prepared nurses away from teaching, according to the NCCN.
In many cases nurses want to and often are required to spend several years directly caring for patients before switching to an educator role at a college or a hospital. Even then, nurse educators keep up with new developments in the profession so they can adequately teach students in classroom and clinical settings. This ongoing learning process helps keep nurse educators on their toes, hands-on, and abreast of important advances in the field “because they are always the liaison between the new developments and the implementation at the staff level,” says Stacy Thomson, nurse educator and intern coordinator for Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
Thomson, 52, helps hospital nurses during their first year on the job, providing mentoring, education about topics such as end-of-life care and legal issues, as well as career development and other means of support. She says she also tries to remain “clinically current” by returning to a bedside role every five years or so, which she says helps strengthen her role as an educator.
She says it’s more challenging for academia to recruit and retain nurse educators, but she echoes the sentiments of all who are involved in training health care’s largest professional group: “There’s a tremendous need for nurse educators because there’s a tremendous need for nurses.”
Contact Patrick Collins at 412-5934 or patrick.collins@news-record.com.CutlineAt top: Registered nurse Kim Mays prepares to teach a CPR class at the Moses Cone Health System’s staff education department. Nurse educators are found not only at community colleges and universities, but also in hospitals and other clinical settings.
Kim Mays, RN, MSN, MBA, a nurse educator, program specialist with Moses Cone Health Systems, prepares for a CPR class at the staff education department. Items such as the skeleton are available for educational purposes.
Nancy Sidelinger Special Sections Photographer
