A systematic assessment of strategies to address the nursing faculty shortage, U.S.

An assessment of strategies implemented nationwide to counter the nursing faculty shortage, highlights those indicating most promise, and proposes a basis for evaluating outcomes and an exemplar that is substantial, sustainable and replicable.

Abstract

This article provides an assessment of strategies implemented nationwide to counter the nursing faculty shortage, highlights those indicating most promise, and proposes a basis for evaluating outcomes. The deficit of educators is a key impediment to filling the growing demand for nurses generated by an aging population and a weak supply of new graduates, which has left up to 13% of hospital RN positions vacant. Educational institutions have adopted various approaches to expand faculty resources with the goal of increasing nursing student enrollment. After conducting a systematic review of the literature from 2000 onward, we analyzed and coded these initiatives using techniques of content analysis and constant comparison. We induced 4 large domains from the data: advocacy, educational partnerships, academic innovation, and external funding. For each domain we identified an exemplar that is substantial, sustainable and replicable. We then proposed a basis for evaluating the impact of these strategies to facilitate replication.