Nursing School Faculty Recruitment and Retention Program
Overview
The nursing faculty shortage has been identified as one of the most significant bottlenecks to the nursing workforce pipeline in Colorado. The purpose of this four-year Colorado Trust-funded program is to help 25 state-funded and private not-for-profit schools of nursing recruit and retain faculty in an effort to reduce an increasingly serious constraint that is limiting Colorado's ability to educate a new generation of nurses.
Based on a recent Colorado Health Institute (CHI) survey, 25% of the state's 900 nursing faculty are intending to retire by 2015; another 25% are intending to retire by 2020. Given the extended length of time that it takes to prepare nursing faculty (at the MSN, PhD or DNP level), this exodus of experienced nursing faculty presents a significant challenge to the state's ability to educate a new and larger next generation of nurses. This project includes a Faculty Educational Loan Repayment program and a trio of educational programs to provide resources not otherwise available to the partnering nursing schools. (click to download the CHI nursing faculty study).
Key grant strategies
- Educational Loan Repayment Program
a. Establish, implement, track and disperse the faculty loan repayment program to provide flexibility to meet the individualized needs of each nursing program.
b. Require all loan recipients provide at least one matching year of teaching for each year of loan funds.
- Educational Offerings
Three educational programs are provided in an effort to provide support for three key nursing faculty groups .
a. Clinical Scholar/Clinical Instructor
b. New Faculty Classroom/Powerful Presentations
c. Senior Faculty and Program Leadership – “Leaving a Legacy"
- Evaluation and Data Collection: Future Solution-building Strategy
a. Create and conduct an annual evaluation of all participating schools and loan recipients
b. Require completion of the survey prior to loan funds being dispersed.
Target Population: Twenty-five state-funded and private not-for-profit nursing programs
Outcomes and Accomplishments
- Educational Loan Repayment Awards to at least 50 Nursing Faculty members. The total loan repayment funds were distributed equitably based on 2007 graduation rates reported to the Colorado Board of Nursing. Each nursing program nominated faculty to fill their specific recruitment needs and support the attainment of higher degrees of existing faculty to comply with the national accreditation requirements. As of July 1, 2009 the nominated nursing faculty had received a total of $110,000 in educational loan repayment funds. Each recipient is obligated to a minimum of two years teaching to obtain their total funds which equates to 76 years of teaching service committed by program recipients as of July 2009.
- Three educational offerings will train a total of 194 participants. The partnering schools identified that travel-expenses and faculty coverage for attending the classes were barriers to program participation. As a result, two of the classes will be held in rotating areas of the state to reduce the travel burden statewide.
The Education Courses
1. Leaving a Legacy
The “Leaving a Legacy” class was developed in partnership with the Nursing Faculty Recruitment and Retention Advisory Committee. This is a three-day intensive class designed to support senior faculty and school leadership within nursing education to develop coaching skills and create strategies for improving recruitment and retention. All participants in this class will have an opportunity to reflect on their own work and work environment while developing coaching skills to support new faculty. The class includes a requirement for future coaching and a capstone project intended to provide additional support to each nursing program.
2. New Faculty – Classroom Presentation
New Faculty Teaching Skills - the Powerful Presentations course utilizes small group work settings with the immediate feedback of being recorded on a DVD. Participants have the opportunity to experience content presentation, receive immediate feedback from peers and observing themselves on a take home DVD. This type of learning enables rapid behavioral change. This technique, when accompanied by a structured framework of specific tools to use in presentations, supports rapid growth in improving the quality of presentations.
3. Clinical Scholar Class
Upon completion of the course the expectation is that the Clinical Scholar will be actively involved in teaching nursing students. A Clinical Scholar is a Baccalaureate (except by special permission) or higher level prepared registered nurse who works with a school of nursing to instruct nursing students in a clinical setting. In general, Clinical Scholars maintain their current employment status in a clinical facility and ideally host nursing students there. Clinical Scholars assist with the valuable, hands-on instruction that can only be provided by skilled, veteran nurses. Additionally, Clinical Scholars will be involved in the evaluation of nursing students.
Collaborative Partners: The partner organizations are: Aims Community College; Arapahoe Community College; Colorado Northwestern Community College; Colorado State University – Pueblo; Colorado Mountain College; Community College Denver; Delta-Montrose Technical College; Emily Griffith Opportunity School; Front Range Community College – Boulder; Front Range Community College – Larimer; Front Range Community College – Westminster; Lamar Community College; Mesa State College; Metro State; Morgan Community College; Northeastern Junior College; Otero Junior College; Pikes Peak Community College; Pueblo Community College/San Juan Basin Technical; Regis University; Pickens Technical College; Trinidad State Junior College; University of Northern Colorado – Greeley; University of Colorado - Colorado Springs; University of Colorado – Denver
Contact:
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Marianne Druva Horner, CNM, MS
Project Director Phone 303-715-0343, ext 12 email - marianne@ColoradoNursingCenter.org |
Michelle Cheuvront,
Project Manager
Phone 303-715-0343, extension 20
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