How To Help Nurse Educators

ENHANCING PARTICIPATION AND

OUTPUT IN NURSE TEACHER

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

A Presentation at the Nurse Education

Association Conference : 19-21 August 2008

By

Professor N S (Thandi) Gwele

Executive Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences

DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Introduction

‰

The Need/Problem

‰

Reasons for Shortage of Nurse Educators

‰

Approaches to Responding to the Demand

‰

Recommendations for Action at Political Level

9/30/2008 The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D.

The Need/Problem

‰

Demand & Supply

„ Shortage of Nurses Ö Increased Demand for Nurse

Educators

„ Trends in Enrolment in Nurse Teacher Education

Programs

„ Graduation Rates in Nurse Teacher Education

Programs

„ Participation and Throughput in Postgraduate

Programs in Nursing

„ The New Qualifications

† BN (RN entry)

† MN (Nurse Educator entry)

„ Global Trends in Qualifications of Nurse Educators

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Growth in Learners & No. of Nurse

Educators in the SANC Register

†

Nurse Ed. Figures

„

All in SANC

Register

†

Actual Teachers

„ What are the qualifications of Nurse Educators

†

Ghost Teachers

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The Current Situation

Qualification NQF Level

PhD 8+

Masters (Structured & Research) 8

BN Hours, B. Tech, B. Nursing

??? Four-year Diploma, Post-Basic Diplomas

7

Bridging, 4-year Diploma in Nursing, Post-Basic

Diplomas: (Mental Health Nursing, Advanced Mental Health Nursing, Critical Care Nursing, Advanced

midwifery, Midwifery, Community Health Nursing, Nursing Education etc)

Post-Basic Bachelor’s Degrees (e.g. B Cur I et E)

6

Diploma in Nursing (EN) 4

Estimate: Staff Profile by

Reasons for the Shortage of Nurse Educators

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‰

Lack of interest in nursing education as a career

‰ Academic salaries and career pathways for nurse

educators

‰

Extended requirement for remaining in clinical

practice

o Bursary Contracts o Community Service

‰

Cost of Higher Education (HE)

‰

Inadequate funding in HE

‰

A small candidate pool

‰ An ageing RN population

‰ Inadequate RN Output from universities

Faculty of Health Sciences

The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D. (2006): The Nursing Faculty Shortage: A Crisis for Health Care

Approaches to Responding to the Demand

for Nurse Educators: A Recommendation

† Stimulate Interest Education

„ Passion and enthusiasm „ Role modeling

„ Mentoring

„ Graduate Assistantship

„ Vigorous Recruitment (a national agenda)

† Financial Assistance for HE

„ Grants for nurse education programs „ Health/Education Partnerships

† Student bursaries

† Joint appointments (lecturers and clinical instructors)

† Clinical training grant (postgraduate education in advanced clinical nursing programs)

† Study Leave – Skills levy

9/30/2008 The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D.

Mentoring

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‰

The Early Career Nurse Educators

‰ Formal Orientation Program

‰ Clear Learning and Development Expectations

‰ The Workings of the Institution

‰ The Academic Role

‰

The Mid-Career Nurse Educators

‰ Varied and determined by mentee needs ‰ Formal and informal in nature

‰ “Mutual sharing learning and growth” (Vance & Olson, p. 5).

‰

Late Career Nurse Educators

‰ Mutual respect and common respect relationships ‰ Leadership development opportunities

‰ Reciprocal relationship between the mentor and the mentee

Faculty of Health Sciences

The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D. (2006): The Nursing Faculty Shortage: A Crisis for Health Care

Approaches to Responding to the Demand

for Nurse Educators: [Continued]

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† Combine advanced clinical training with nursing

education

† Improve Access to NE

„ Concurrent clinical practice and nurse teacher education „ RPL – e.g. Clinical Instructors and in-service education

practitioners

„ RN2MN access programmes

† Institute competitive salaries for nurse educators (salary

subvention)

† Academic Development Units in all Nursing Education

Institutions (OR)

„ Regional/Provincial Nurse Educator Development Programs

„ Regional/Provincial Resource Centers for Nurse Educators

„ Web-based Nurse Education Programs (e.g. Academies of Learning for the 21st _{Century Nurse Educator)}

† E-learning/teaching

Faculty of Health Sciences

The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D. (2006): The Nursing Faculty Shortage: A Crisis for Health Care

Recommendations for Action at Political

Level

†

Nursing Education Office at National Level

„ Sub-directorate of the National Health HR Directorate

† Up-to-date data on nursing education workforce

„ Develop standards for the development of national data on nurse educators

„ Annual Participation and throughput

„ Technical assistance to provinces on analysis and planning i.r.o. demand/supply/challenges in nurse teacher education and training

„ Periodic national surveys on nurse educator workforce in conjunction with national nursing workforce surveys – inform planning

„ A national clearinghouse on trends and developments in academic development in teaching and learning, research and community engagement with specific reference to health professions education

„ Support and/or conduct research on nurse educators and the financing thereof

„ Support program evaluations studies aimed at improving nursing education

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Recommendations for Action at Political

Level [Continued]

†

Nursing Education Office at National Level

„ Develop a Dynamic Research Agenda on Nurse

Educators and Nursing Education

† Longitudinal Study on Careers in Nursing Education † Supply and Demand (Nurse Educators)

† Financing of Nurse Teacher Education

† Profile of Nurse Educators in SA (Gender, Race, Qualifications, Rank and Scholarly Productivity)

† Evaluation Studies

„ Effects and impact of various health, education and human resources policies on the country’s capacity to deliver on the provision of adequate nursing workforce for its people.

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Recommendations for Action at Political

Level: [Continued]

†

Establishing National Fellowship Program for

Academic Development of Nurse Educators

„ Major Focus Areas

† A recruitment strategy for nurse educators

† Disseminate information on the country’s need for nurse

educators to all HEIs offering nursing programs

† Facilitate completion time

„ (FT Study is faster that PT study)

„ The Fellowship Package

† Tuition Fees, books etc

† Stipend (subsistence and accommodation)

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Faculty of Health Sciences

The Whole Paper Informed by and Modified from: Yordy, K.D. (2006): The Nursing Faculty Shortage: A Crisis for Health Care

Recommendations for Action at Political

Level: [Continued]

† Competitive Grants to Support Centers of Excellence

in Nurse Teacher Education

„ Major Focus Areas:

† Provision of requisite resources for increased enrolment

† Attract quality academic staff as role models

† Create platforms for collaborative work among institutions

† Extend the Current Teacher Education and Clinical

Training Grants to Nurse Teacher Education

† Provinces to establish quality, live data bases on

nurse educator profiles, demands and supply

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Recommendations for Action at Political

Level: [Continued]

„

Conclusion

† “Wishing it so will not make it happen. To increase

educational capacity and recruit nurse educators will take concerted efforts to raise awareness, support, and funding for nurse education. … ‘You can’t ignore

politics, no matter how much you’d like to’ (Bowers-Lanier, R. (2006). Nurse Educators, Politics, and Policy Makers. Journal of Nursing Education, 45(12): 483)

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It’s Possible!

Just Do it!!!

(© Nike)

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