Academe under seige
Article Outline
Marion E. Broome, PhD, RN, FAAN
“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.”
Albert Einstein
At the risk of sounding like “Chicken Little,” I have decided to share some of my thoughts about the current state of the nursing academy (not as in American Academy of … but rather the place in which professors spend their careers preparing nurses for the future). I think the world of the nursing academe is at risk for losing it’s place as a dynamic, exciting, and innovative culture. This is the culture to which students should come, excited and inspired, to learn more about themselves, gain knowledge and skills to make the lives of people better, and hope to be mentored to strengthen their ability to shape the world of health care. Yet, I’m not sure many of our nursing programs are in a position to meet their expectations. Specifically, I would like to share how I think our notions of what is truly innovative and what counts for “truth” and “value” in nursing education have changed, how these changes have affected many faculty, and how they, in turn, affect students’ aspirations to follow in our footsteps.
I think the traditional roles of faculty as teacher and expert in clinical phenomena have eroded significantly over the past 25 years. Faculty have become increasingly specialized and subspecialized. Some are unwilling to develop new areas of scholarship and/or practice expertise as health care systems evolve. Hence, many have experienced an erosion in the relevancy of their knowledge and skills and, most importantly, their ability to imagine what could be—not what should be based on tradition. Although it is well-known that this is hardly a phenomenon restricted to nursing academe, nevertheless it is a significant threat to our future. Other forces rooted in contemporary movements and trends in nursing education include:
These trends have alienated many in nursing education—sometimes entire schools, sometimes factions within schools. Faculty satisfaction has eroded and, given the average age in the US for faculty is 54 years,2 some are counting the days to retirement. This low morale has also had implications for what we model for our young students—the very students we assume will come and take our place as teachers, researchers and leaders.
These shifts are challenging every nursing academic—regardless of their functional role (teacher, practitioner, researcher, administrator)—and making many of us uneasy! Researchers, often viewed as “the elite” in the discipline, find that funds at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are shrinking and those grants that will be awarded funds must include translational, interdisciplinary strategies. Faculty in advanced practice find the rules changing without any clear understanding of exactly what the problem is—with organized entities proposing new rules in the total absence of data supporting the need for or significance of the change.3
Faculty who spend their time teaching undergraduate students are told that clinical simulation will no longer be an avocation for a few.4 Shrinking budgets and clinical placement opportunities, as well as the ever-expanding demand for nurses will push faculty to adopt completely new teaching practices. This will also shift some of the demand for research data to support evidence-based practices from clinical practice to education. This shift is long overdue. No longer can we develop curricula that are based on anecdotal experience, tradition or opinion.5 No longer do we have the luxury (if we ever did) of developing curricula over 3 years, taking 2 years to vote on it, and then implementing it over 3 more!
In discussions about faculty response to all of these changes, some are convinced that faculty are just resistant to change and unwilling to engage in the intellectual work it will take to craft new visions and vistas in each of these areas. At the risk of sounding “pollyanish,” I think that is too simplistic a perspective. These times demand new thinking and require much stretching by those who have already worked hard and succeeded at what they do. Changing “what we do” is hard! And no one talks about the fear that one just simply doesn’t have the energy/interest/ability to do whatever it takes to “keep up.” It is easier to just resist (and I would argue we have built in rewards in the academy for doing so—under the rubric of tenure and academic freedom). It is harder to reflect about what new knowledge and skills will be needed for the next decade in this dynamic world of nursing, and think about exactly what one’s major contribution is and can be, and then ask for the resources to get there.
Yet, there is hope. Over the past few years, points of light have emerged that suggest there is the potential for growth in all of us that could address these challenges. As during every change in a professional culture, a few hardy souls have become energized, dove in and are emerging as the new “scholars of thought and innovation” in our schools and in the discipline. It is heartening to watch those individuals take the risk to change and grow. Their aura of energy and excitement is contagious. And students are the first (but not only!) recipients of their excitement and enthusiasm.
Students at all levels are watching each and every one of us. It isn’t that they think we “work too hard” (who doesn’t?). They think we don’t enjoy what we are doing. Students of nursing have always “caught” our excitement (or not) and love (or not) for what we do. We desperately need our young students to look at faculty and think what we do is important, relevant and satisfying. Otherwise, no matter what the salary or acclaim awarded the professorial role of educator and member of academe, they will not want to “do what we do.”
Each of us must examine our role and decide to be an active participant in the changing academy or channel our energies into pursuits in other roles.6 It is the role and responsibility of nursing leaders to find the resources to support the development of faculty. And it is the role and responsibility of faculty to either actively and enthusiastically engage in their organization and the discipline, or find a better place to pursue their dreams. If we don’t, the faculty shortage we are facing now will only worsen—as will the discipline.
References
- . Scholarship reconsidered: priorities of the professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching . Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1990;
- www.AACN.nche.edu/education/facultyshortage. Accessed April 7, 2006.
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Vision paper: the future regulation of advanced practice nursing. Available at: www.NCSBM.org. Accessed April 4, 2006.
- . Envisioning the evolution of e-nursing education . Nurs Educ Persp . 2006;27:12–15
- Chappy, L. A., Stewart S. Curricular practices in baccalaureate nursing education: results of a national survey. Journal of Professional Nursing 20(6), pp. 369-373.
- . In: Mentoring of Nurse Faculty . New York, NY: NLN; 2006;p. 1–4
Marion E. Broome is a Distinguished Professor and University Dean at the School of Nursing, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN.
PII: S0029-6554(06)00131-X
doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2006.04.003
© 2006 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
