Preparing Nurse Educators: The Current Landscape

There is an urgent need to address the nursing faculty shortage and evaluate current enrollment in nurse educator programs across the country. In this article, we describe a nationwide review of graduate nursing programs focusing on the nursing education shortage; program, faculty, and student demographics; methodological approaches; concentrations, content and practice areas; and future directions for graduate program development.

Faculty Formation: Philosophical Perspectives, Issues, and Considerations

With a looming nurse faculty shortage, it is imperative that schools of nursing develop and maintain the nurse educator workforce to meet the demands of today’s complex healthcare system. One component needed for workforce preparation is structure regarding formation of the faculty role. This article first defines faculty formation and why faculty formation is a relevant philosophical issue within nursing education. Next, we discuss current issues in faculty formation including: educational training; the orientation process; mentorship and role modeling; communities of practice; and faculty workload. We offer brief exemplars to illustrate current concerns with formation that faculty experience during role transition and recommend considerations for nurse leaders to support faculty formation.

Nursing Faculty Shortage in Canada: A Review of Contributing Factors

Background: Strong nursing faculty is paramount to promote disciplinary leadership and to prepare future nurses for practice. Our understanding of the factors associated with or predictive of nurse faculty retention and/or turnover is lacking. Purpose: The aim of this review is to identify and synthesize the existing literature on factors contributing to nurse faculty shortage in Canada and implications on nursing practice. Methods: A scoping review based on the Arskey and O’Malley’s five stage framework for scoping reviews was undertaken. Utilising the PRISMA protocol, a comprehensive and structured literature search was conducted in five databases of studies published in English.Findings: Limited through search inclusion and relevance of research, nine studies out of 220 papers met the criteria for this review and were thematically analyzed. Identified themes were: supply versus demand; employment conditions; organizational support; and personal factors.Discussion: Impending retirement of faculty, unsupportive leadership, and stressful work environments were frequently reported as significant contributing factors to the faculty shortage.Conclusions: This scoping review provide insights into how Canada’s schools of nursing could engage in grounded efforts to lessen nursing faculty shortage, both nationally and globally. We identified a gap in the literature that indicates that foundational work is needed to create context-specific solutions. The limited studies published in Canada suggests that this is a critical area for future research and funding.

Transitioning to Full Online Teaching During Covid-19 Crisis: The Associate Degree Nurse Faculty Experience

As the COVID-19 crisis escalated in early 2020, schools of nursing and nursing programs in the United States and around the world shut down. Nurse faculty were forced transition to online teaching in a short time. Descriptive phenomenology was used to explore the experiences of associate degree nurse faculty who transitioned to online teaching during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inductive thematic analysis was performed on the interview data from 41 faculty teaching at associate degree nursing programs in the U.S. The findings of the study are presented under 6 main themes: stressful/overwhelming, feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, support, new knowledge and growth under pressure, new opportunities for nursing education, and leadership in times of crisis. To prevent the worsening of the nurse faculty shortage and help educate nurses for the future, nurse educators must be supported and recognized for their work during this period and beyond.

Thrive, not just survive: the experience of a fellow in the SBM Leadership Institute to enhance opportunities for success of mid-career nurse scientists

Mid-career nurse scientists are at risk of burnout and departure from research-focused roles due to a myriad of reasons, including a nationwide faculty shortage, vacant administrative roles, and the challenging extramural funding environment. Retention and success of mid-career scientists in any health-related discipline is essential to maintain educational and research endeavors that are important for public health and well-being. This commentary provides an account of recent efforts to address these issues, from the perspective of a former fellow in the Society of Behavioral Medicine Leadership Institute. Although these efforts are focused specifically on the needs of nurse scientists, the topic is relevant to researchers in any discipline. The intent of this commentary is for others to benefit from the lessons learned and to build upon our current efforts to help mid-career scientists thrive, not just survive.

Undergraduate accounting students’ perception of a course in accounting research and theory

Purpose This study aims to measure the response of undergraduate accounting students to a stand-alone course in accounting theory and research. The aim of the study was to gauge students’ perceptions of the usefulness of this course and to determine if exposure to this material would increase student interest in accounting research and in pursuing a career in academia. Design/methodology/approach Three cohorts of students enrolled in the course completed an in-class survey. The study was conducted from 2015 to 2017. Findings The results of the survey show that student interest in accounting research and theory increased substantially as a result of the course. Students felt that learning about accounting research and the theories used in accounting research enhanced their overall understanding of accounting and would be useful to them as accounting practitioners. This study also reports that students interested in pursuing a PhD and/or an academic career also increased. Research limitations/implications Data were only collected at a single university and represent student perceptions only. Practical implications The results of this study and the description of the course design will inform academics seeking to answer the American Accounting Association Pathways Commission’s call to integrate accounting research and education. This study also suggests a pathway towards addressing the chronic academic accounting faculty shortage. Finally, the results will be of interest to those designing undergraduate accounting curriculum. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the “teaching-research nexus” in accounting by providing evidence, from the perspective of undergraduate accounting students, of the usefulness of integrating research into undergraduate accounting education. While many accounting researchers view accounting research and teaching accounting as separate activities, the response from students suggests that there is value in fostering a more complementary relationship between these two activities.