The ever-increasing nursing shortage and the need for more nurses of color who can provide culturally competent care to an increasingly multicultural population has prompted colleges and universities to create alternative pathways into the nursing field. One such pathway is the master’s entry program in nursing (MEPN), an accelerated MSN program that enables people with non-nursing degrees to complete the requirements for RN licensure and earn a master’s degree in a clinical specialty, allowing them to become advanced practice nurses in two to four years (depending on their specialty).
In the first “bridge” phase of the program, students combine classroom study with practice of clinical skills in laboratory and real-life settings. At the end of this time, they are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN® and move on to the master’s phase of the program. The philosophy behind these programs, which essentially bypass the traditional BSN degree, is: If students have already completed their prerequisites by earning a degree in another field, why make them start from scratch and earn another bachelor’s degree in nursing?
Not that MEPN programs are new. The first was established at Yale University in 1974 as a three-year program for non-nursing majors. Since then, the number of schools offering similar programs has grown steadily.
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“In 1999, there were about 10 or 12 programs of this kind across the country,” recalls Sharon Sanderson, director of recruitment at Yale School of Nursing. “There are now close to 40, and they’re all a little different.”
These differences run the gamut from the schedule and time frame required for completion of the RN and master’s courses to the name of the program itself. For example, at some schools MEPN programs may be called graduate entry pre-specialty in nursing (GEPN), direct-entry MSN or accelerated pre-specialty MSN.
Whatever academic institutions choose to call them, most MEPN programs require that prospective students have a bachelor’s degree in a field other than nursing (although some will accept students without a degree if they have completed a specified number of prerequisite courses). Admissions decisions are based on a combination of grade point averages, professional/life experience and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. And because many schools are aiming toward a more culturally diverse student population that will ultimately lead to a more diverse nursing workforce, they are actively recruiting people of color and men for these accelerated programs.
Growing the Numbers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care industry will need to find more than one million new and replacement registered nurses over the next decade. To meet these projections, nursing schools must increase their number of both traditional and nontraditional students. The average ratio of minority students in MEPN programs tends to range from 11% to 28%, and a growing number of schools are trying to increase that percentage. For example, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, which instituted its two-year Pre-Specialty Entry for Non-Nurses program in the 1980s, began targeted recruitment of students of color in 1993.
Jose Pares-Avila, MA, LMHC
“The nursing school received an academic enhancement grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration,” explains Jana Lauderdale, PhD, MSN, RN, assistant dean for cultural diversity at Vanderbilt. “Since then, each of our grants has always had a focus on minority recruitment as a part of the grant. For instance, there are a couple of training grants this year that are targeting minority students in areas of the United States that don’t have access to a master’s degree in nursing program.”
Partnerships with local agencies, professional associations, middle and high schools, and other universities can also help nursing schools attract students from underrepresented populations who might not have thought of an MEPN program as an option. “We involve all school stakeholders in recruitment efforts and in providing individualized follow-up to prospective students,” states Carolyn Chow, MA, director of admissions and multicultural student affairs at the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. “We’ve also increased our involvement, partnerships and networking with minority affairs offices on campus and at other schools and with professional, academic and community organizations in communities of color.”
Catching students’ interest early is also important. “We work with health professions advisers, who are the people at colleges who encourage students to go on to other areas of health care,” notes Sanderson. “The majority are biology or physical science teachers.” Unfortunately, these advisers often point students toward medicine instead of nursing, a choice that Sanderson feels is based on a skewed vision of the nursing profession. “It’s imperative that we change the image of the nurse from someone who’s subservient to an MD to someone who’s on the same health care team as the MD,” she emphasizes.
Learning at a Faster Pace
Diversity is the name of the game in master’s entry nursing programs. Students come from a broad range of cultures, educational and professional backgrounds, age groups and life experiences. Their previous education may have been in any field, from sociology to photography, and their degree levels vary from bachelor’s to master’s to doctoral. Although some MEPN students enter the program directly after completing their undergraduate degree, most are career changers who are in their mid 20s or older.
Janelle Zamora
Peter Teboh, RN, MBA, MPH, went into the Graduate Entry Program for Non-Nurses at Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland with a background in biology, chemistry, business and public health. Married with three children, Teboh–who is originally from Cameroon–had worked in public health for a number of years but decided he wanted to move into direct patient care. He is now in his last year of study to become a geriatric nurse practitioner.
“You have to know what you want,” he advises prospective MEPN students. “The program is extremely challenging, and you have to put [the rest of] your life on hold. It takes a lot of advance planning and family support.” The intensive academic load is universal in accelerated programs, and MEPN students need to have excellent study skills, a clear idea of what they want to accomplish and a strong dedication to their chosen field. As a former student and current faculty member (Foundations of Nursing course) in Vanderbilt’s pre-specialty program, Shawanda Clay, MSN, APRN-BC, has first-hand knowledge of the amount of work involved from both sides of the fence.
“The accelerated program is different than what students experienced in undergraduate school,” she explains. “BSN students complete nursing courses in four semesters, but this program allows students to complete them in three. The students have to be well organized and self-disciplined.”
The time commitment required means that most students find it difficult, if not impossible, to hold down jobs while they’re going through their pre-specialty year. Those with partners, children and other family commitments face the challenge of juggling those responsibilities along with the heavy course work.
Clefondrus Ashford, RN, was an LPN with a bachelor’s degree in biology before she entered Case Western’s graduate entry program. Now in her third year of the program (her specialty is geriatrics/adult care), she went to her instructors and adviser early on when outside family and financial commitments made completing course work difficult.
“When I first started the program, I was working because the financial aid wasn’t enough,” Ashford recalls. “Eventually I stopped because it was just too hard. Then two family members became ill, and the school worked with me so I could drop a class and retake it the following semester. The faculty were very understanding, and they can be flexible if you let them know right away that you have a problem.” Addressing problems early can help prevent a snowball effect that might make it impossible for a student to catch up with regular assignments.
To avoid burnout, students need to carve out time for relaxation and personal “downtime.” “We have classes six days a week, three of which are clinical days (nine- to 12-hour shifts),” says Janelle Zamora, a University of Washington student who is in the third quarter of her prelicensure program. She previously earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative religion and will now be working toward a master’s degree in community health systems nursing.
“It’s a balancing act,” she continues. “In my first quarter, I dropped everything and focused solely on the program, but at the quarter’s end I realized that there was more to life than just school. I learned that I have to take time for myself–spend time with my family, go to the gym, have dinner with friends. Self-care, that’s the mantra. And with only 20 students in our program, we’re really able to support each other. We have great cohesiveness.”
Perhaps because of the relatively small class sizes and the mutually supportive atmosphere common to MEPN programs, many students of color don’t seem to have as much of a sense of isolation as they would in other types of programs with similar minority ratios. “I’ve never felt marginalized,” states Marie Gonzalez, who has an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies and is a second-year student at Vanderbilt University who will graduate in December with an MSN in nurse-midwifery. “My father and his family are from Cuba and my mother is from Florida. It actually feels like my input is more valued because of my background.”
Zamora’s classmate José Pares-Avila, MA, LMHC, a licensed mental health professional who worked in hospital- and community-based HIV programs for 15 years before deciding to pursue advanced practice nursing, has also found the friendships forged in his first year an important source of support. “I’m Latino, I’m one of three men in the group, I’m the only gay person and I’m older, so the feeling of isolation varies,” comments Pares-Avila. “I’m also new to Seattle, so there’s the matter of relocating to a new city and leaving my life in Boston behind. But my classmates are amazing, and I’ve become close friends with many of them.”
Providing Support
Because master’s entry nursing programs are so demanding, all of the schools interviewed for this article provide some sort of mentoring, networking or support groups for students. Some of these resources are designed specifically for minority students, while others are open to everyone; some are available exclusively within the school of nursing, and some are university wide.
The mentors available for students in Case Western Reserve’s graduate entry program include faculty advisers, alumni and current classmates, who provide peer mentoring. In addition, each class has a student representative who takes any identified concerns about the program to administration.
The University of Washington’s nursing school puts current and prospective students of color in contact with key minority leaders and health professionals in the community so they have access to professional support and mentoring outside of the school. As for on-campus support, minority graduate and doctoral students from across the university can participate in a support group that holds seminars and monthly meetings and provides networking opportunities.
Vanderbilt’s nursing school has developed an infrastructure of minority faculty, staff and alumni mentors to support minority students from their initial program inquiry through graduation. Such support can range from information sharing to academic counseling.
One of the goals of Yale School of Nursing’s Diversity Action Committee is to increase the number of minority faculty so students of color will be able to have mentors from similar backgrounds.
The University of San Diego’s Master’s Entry Program in Nursing has a Big Brother/Big Sister program in which all entering students are paired with a second- or third-year MEPN student who acts as a mentor.
Financial assistance can be a trickier subject. Master’s entry students are often ineligible for scholarships that are available to traditional BSN students. However, once MEPN students complete their pre-specialty work and enter the master’s phase of the program, they usually have the same opportunities as other MSN students. [Editor’s Note: The Minority Nurse Magazine Scholarship Program recently expanded its eligibility criteria to include students in MEPN programs.]
“Almost all of our students have to take out some loans for the first year of the program because they really can’t work,” says Sally Hardin, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the University of San Diego’s Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science. “We have a large grant from the Dickinson Foundation which is focused specifically on the MEPN program, and we have a series of loans and endowments that also are used to help the MEPN students. We’ve also just introduced a paid externship for students in the last semester of the program. We work with students and local clinical agencies so the externship can be done in a place the students choose, where they would like to get more clinical experience or think they might want to work.”
Although master’s entry nursing programs aren’t for everyone, they are continuing to gain popularity as an option to help increase cultural diversity in the nursing profession. Not only do they open doors to people who might not have the time or inclination to follow the traditional BSN route, they are also increasing minority and male students’ access to advanced practice nursing careers as clinicians, researchers and educators.
Despite the sacrifices involved, MEPN students all seem to agree that these accelerated programs are helping them fulfill what has become their mission in life. “You wouldn’t be in [this program] if you didn’t really want to be an advanced practice nurse,” says Clefondrus Ashford. “I knew this was my calling. I’m in it because that’s where my heart is.”
Randolph Rasch, PhD, FNP, RN, is passionate about nursing. And he’s also passionate about teaching.
“When you practice as a nurse, you provide care as an individual. If you teach, you are helping multiply the number of nurses who are able to provide care. Your efforts are multiplied and you help shape the future of clinical practice. That’s very rewarding,” says Rasch, who is a professor and the director of the family nurse practitioner program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rasch’s love of both nursing and teaching are spotlighted in the current “Nursing
Education…Pass It On” promotional campaign put together by Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow (www.nursesource.org), a coalition of 43 national nursing and health care organizations working together to address the nursing shortage. The campaign is designed to encourage nurses and students to consider teaching careers in hopes of slowing the country’s growing shortage of nursing faculty.
While Rasch is new to his role as celebrity spokesman, he has long considered it part of his job to look for and recruit future nursing professors–and his efforts aren’t limited to just the university students in his classes. Before accepting his current position at Vanderbilt, he was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he was involved in offering continuing education programs for nurses across the state.
“I made a point to always tell those nurses where I went to school and all of the different roles I had enjoyed as a nurse,” he says. “I was very honest. I said, ‘I am telling you this because I know that some of you are interested in doing different things as nurses and I want you to see the type of things you could do.’”
Rasch would always stay after these education programs to meet one-on-one with
RNs who were interested in career advice. He gave out his contact information freely. Hearing from some of these nurses years later, after they’ve made the transition to a new career specialty, is still one of his biggest rewards.
A History of Firsts
Rasch is featured in two print advertisements developed by JWT Specialized Communications for the “Nursing Education…Pass It On” nurse educator recruitment campaign. He is shown standing in front of a classroom full of students, smiling. His words urge others to join him in training future nurses. “By sharing my story of nursing firsts, I am able to demonstrate how individuals from a variety of backgrounds can succeed,” the ad quotes him as saying.
Rasch does indeed have a long history of firsts. He was the first African-American man to graduate from the nursing program at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. He then became the first African-American male public health nurse (PHN) in his native state of Michigan. He followed that by becoming the first male African American to complete an MSN as a family nurse practitioner (at Vanderbilt in 1979). Finally, he became the first African-American man to earn a PhD in nursing when he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.
But Rasch insists he didn’t enter nursing with the goal of being a trailblazer. Instead, he just wanted to provide good patient care.
“I was always interested in health care,” he emphasizes. “I really didn’t know what was involved in nursing, so I originally thought about going to medical school. As I learned more, it was clear that nursing was the right choice for me.”
It was nursing’s holistic approach that appealed to Rasch. “Nursing focuses more on the whole person,” he explains. “You can get to know people and help them improve. You do need to know about diseases and treatment, but you also need to learn who this individual is. You have to know about their lives and families so you can plan care that is appropriate for that person.”
Encouraging Future Faculty
Rasch’s approach to encouraging the next generation of nurses to consider careers as professors is very simple. He does it through one-on-one conversations with students. After all, that was how he himself was recruited into teaching.
“When I first became a nurse, I only saw myself working in a clinical setting,” Rasch recalls. “When I graduated from my undergraduate program, I went to work in a hospital. The director of my program said for me to go ahead and do that, but she thought I would grow to become interested in other things.
“She was right,” he continues. “I did enjoy working in the hospital, but I wanted to do other things. So I went to work as a public health nurse in Benton Harbor, Michigan, went back to school for my MSN and became a family nurse practitioner. Then I wanted to learn how to identify problems and solve them, so I entered a PhD program.”
It was while he was pursuing his doctoral degree that the idea of teaching came up. “Almost all of my classmates were nursing professors,” he says. “Along with the faculty, they talked me into [becoming a professor].”
Rasch believes an encouraging word from a trusted faculty member is often all it takes to cause a nursing student to consider teaching. “Most of the people that I talk to haven’t thought about becoming a teacher,” he notes. “When my professors said they could see me teaching, that was enough reason for me to consider it. It’s very encouraging for someone to say to you, ‘we’ve been watching you and we see what you can do. Let’s talk about this.’”
Rasch is careful never to become too pushy in his efforts to recruit future faculty. “No one ever told me to become a professor, but they did ask me to think about it. That’s what I do with my students now.”
When nurses become professors, he adds, they make a lifelong commitment to learning as well as teaching. That begins with the basics of research. “I never saw myself as a researcher with a big ‘R,’ but it is an integral part of my work.”
Rasch’s research expertise is in HIV/AIDS and men’s health issues. He believes that the ability to read, understand and apply research is becoming more important to all nurses. Future nurses need that interpretive skill, he feels.
“Nowadays, anybody who watches the evening news is constantly hearing about new developments in health care,” Rasch says. “Patients will come in and say, ‘I saw this on the news.’ As a nurse, you need to be able to look into it, find and read some of the most current research and then get a sense of whether a change [in the patient’s treatment] should be made.”
Not Always an Easy Journey
Rasch’s long list of barrier-breaking firsts means, of course, that he was often the only male African American in the class or on the job. Yet he says he didn’t experience the loneliness that some men of color feel in nursing. He credits his outgoing personality with helping him avoid isolation. However, he did experience discrimination, although it wasn’t always intentional.
“Some things happened where I realized that my teachers or fellow nurses were discriminating, but [it was usually because] they didn’t stop to think,” he explains. “Sometimes they would almost try to protect a patient from having a male nurse without realizing that it wasn’t an issue with the patient.”
Rasch hopes that by featuring an African-American male professor in the campaign, the “Nursing…Pass It On” advertisements will draw nurses from a variety of backgrounds into the field of teaching.
“I think it’s important to have a very diverse faculty,” he stresses. “We each have our own cultural experience. If you just have people with the same experiences, you narrow the perspective. You get people that look at everything the exact same way and there’s no growth. With a diverse group, you can look at things more creatively and come up with a wider range of possibilities and solutions.”
This trailblazing teacher knows the journey from nurse to professor isn’t easy. He offers several pieces of expert advice for minority nurses interested in making the transition from practicing nurse to nursing educator.
“The first thing to do is look at what graduate programs are accessible,” he says. “Look at where the program is located and how it is offered.” Once you’ve narrowed your choices down to two or three programs, get information on the faculty–specifically, find out about their nursing expertise and their teaching philosophies.
Rasch also recommends putting together a portfolio of nursing accomplishments. This will help you document your successes, something that may be needed to impress graduate school admissions officers. “Remember that students and faculty both add something to the learning process,” he points out. “Show the admissions officers what you can contribute as a student.”
Finally, don’t think it’s too late to consider teaching. Rasch himself worked as a nurse for several years before going back to school to pursue an MSN. “If you’ve been out of school for a while, highlight the things you have done in your career” is his advice for nontraditional students.
It doesn’t take a PhD to figure out why the nation’s nursing schools urgently need to develop more faculty members in general and more minority faculty in particular—you just have to do some simple math.
First of all, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)’s most recent survey of instructional and administrative faculty in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs, the average age of full-time doctorally prepared faculty in 1999-2000 was 50 years. This breaks down into an average age of 49.5 for assistant professors, 52.8 for associate professors and 55.7 for full professors. As today’s baby boomer nurse educators continue to retire at a rapid rate, not enough new faculty are coming in to replace them.
Secondly, despite the ever-growing racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population, the vast majority of nursing school faculty is still overwhelmingly white. The AACN survey reports that 91.2% of all full-time nurse educators are Caucasian, while only 5.4% are African American, 1.3% are Hispanic, 1.4% are Asian, 0.4% are Native American and 0.2% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Furthermore, of the 8.8% of nursing faculty members who are minorities, just 9.3% are full professors and only 32.4% are tenured.
Clearly, there is a tremendous need for more nursing faculty of color, especially at institutions that are actively trying to attract a more culturally diverse student population. As a result, positions in the field of teaching and academia are becoming an even more attractive career alternative for minority nurses than ever before. Because colleges and universities across the country are fighting over the precious few minority faculty who are out there, these educators can generally have their pick of universities, areas of the country in which to live and fields of study.
A career in education can be both an extremely challenging and highly rewarding experience. How can you tell if becoming a faculty member is right for you? Here’s what some minority nurses who have chosen this career path have to say.
Teaching is Just the Beginning
The first thing to keep in mind about academic careers is that faculty duties involve more than just teaching. Nearly all colleges and universities also require their educators to conduct research and perform service to their school, the nursing profession and the community.
To be successful in academia, nurse educators need to do more than just the basics, believes Cynthia Flynn Capers, RN, PhD, dean of the University of Akron College of Nursing in Akron, Ohio. “You must have a real love and commitment to teaching and learning,” she says.
“Nursing schools expect you to join nursing organizations and attend meetings that will give you a voice in the profession,” continues Capers, who is African American. “And while serving as an officer or committee chair for these organizations is not required, most nursing schools consider it an added plus.”
Nursing faculty are also expected to assist their college or university by joining campus committees, participating on task forces and advising and recruiting students.
Pao-Feng Tsai, RN, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, serves on the department’s research committee. “I can choose from a variety of committees,” she says. “I need to participate at both the college and university levels. In addition, I must attend professional conferences and be a manuscript reviewer. If possible, I also hope to become an officer in a professional association.”
While Tsai spends both time and energy on the service aspect of her faculty position, it occupies far less of her attention than the other two components—teaching and research. “I probably spend a total of one to two weeks a year on service,” she comments.
But for faculty members at some other educational institutions, service is a bigger part of the picture. Every week, I do some service activity,” explains Betty Chang, FNP, DNSc, FAAN, professor at the UCLA School of Nursing in Los Angeles. “In our faculty, everyone has at least two committee assignments at the university, but I’m a senior faculty member, so I’m on even more committees.”
In addition to committee work at the university, Chang is active on an American Academy of Nursing committee, where she reviews manuscripts. “If you are part of an organization, you cannot help but be involved,” she says.
Even though teaching and research take most of her time, Chang feels her service activities are extremely important as well. Her advice to nurses considering an academic career is: Be prepared to work hard. “I work at my office and at home, seven days a week and many evenings,” she explains. “In the summers when I am not teaching, I am conducting research and publishing the findings.”
On top of all this, faculty members are also expected to do community service, says Capers. “Typical community service includes giving health education seminars, serving on boards and using your expertise to benefit the health of the community.”
“I Just Knew Teaching Was for Me”
Although their career clearly involves a lot of hard work, most nurse educators are passionate about the important impact their work has on the nursing profession. “Teaching is more demanding than I first thought it would be,” states Duck-Hee Kang, RN, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, “but it is also more exciting. I get excited when my students get excited. I help them learn to set high goals and always aim for quality work.”
For those students who hope to follow in her footsteps and become educators themselves, “I tell them that being a faculty member is a commitment to the nursing profession,” Kang asserts. “They start learning how to teach by observing teaching styles and volunteering to work with a faculty member. This helps them learn that teaching is more than just what goes on in the classroom—it also includes all the preparation that happens first.
“I just knew teaching was for me,” she adds. “It’s a way to make a contribution to the coming generations by using my experience and helping students learn.”
At Coppin State College School of Nursing in Baltimore, one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges, Dr. Earlene Merrill, assistant dean of nursing, recently participated in a training session focused on the challenges of teaching students in the 21st century. “We talked about creating an exciting classroom setting to keep students motivated and involved,” she says.
More so than in previous generations, today’s student nurses want to be self-directed and to make their own decisions, Merrill believes. This creates a challenge for faculty members, who must develop a teaching pedagogy that helps students become both self-directed and successful.
“Teaching is much more difficult than it looks,” she points out. “It entails more work than many suspect when they begin.”
Merrill also emphasizes that nurse educators have to know how to maneuver through the academic setting to obtain the resources they need, such as teaching supplies, secretarial help or manageable class sizes. “Sometimes administrators do not understand what educators need,” she says. “I tell my students that in teaching, patience is rule number one and persistence is rule number two.”
What It Takes
In recent years, the health care industry’s severe shortage of hospital nursing staff has also begun to negatively impact the development of future nursing faculty. In some cases, schools of nursing have been forced to put more emphasis on their clinical nursing programs, while academic tracks that prepare students for teaching careers were neglected or even cancelled altogether
Miguel da Cunha, PhD, a professor in the Department of Nursing to Target Populations at the University of Texas School of Nursing in Houston, saw this happen at his institution. “We had three different tracks at the master’s level: administration, teaching and clinical,” he explains. “There has been such a need for clinicians that we cancelled the teaching and administrative tracks for awhile. But now there is a reemergence of interest in education and we are reinstating them.”
When students ask him about becoming a faculty member, da Cunha is encouraging but realistic. “There are not many perks or company cars,” he tells them. “Our perks are what we get back from the students and our own personal satisfaction.”
Da Cunha compares academics’ triple duties of teaching, research and service to a lopsided three-legged stool: In terms of professional recognition, teaching is the short leg. “Research tends to get all the glory,” he maintains.
He has reason to know both sides. Originally in research, he switched to the classroom in the 1970s. Since then, da Cunha has earned three John P. McGovern Outstanding Teaching Awards.
He personally defines outstanding teachers as people who love their profession, are committed to continuously learning and who share their knowledge and techniques in peer review journals. “Teaching and scholarship have to be complementary,” he says.
Advising, too, is a necessary component of a successful academic career, da Cunha adds. “Advising is an important part of teaching—it is mentorship. Teaching is not limited to what you do in the classroom. Advising means guiding students through their education process. I keep in touch with my students throughout their program, advising them on strategies to improve their achievements. That’s part of the joys of teaching. Students keep me rejuvenated.”
Mentoring and advising is particularly important for minority students, who can sometimes feel isolated or slip through the cracks in predominately white nursing schools. Minority professors can serve as empowering role models for students of color, letting them see that they too can become successful nurses, educators and researchers.
The Rigors of Research
Leonie Pallikkathayil, RN, DNS, winner of the University of Kansas Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Professorship, is associate professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center School of Nursing in Kansas City and is extremely active in research. One of her most recent projects was a study funded by the National Institutes of Health on fatigue in healthy individuals.
Pallikkathayil advises master’s-level students who plan to become nurse educators to “do a master’s thesis or a research project,” to prepare them for the research component of a faculty member’s duties. “It’s important to get first-hand experience in the research process,” she says. She also recommends that students work with faculty as research assistants to “get experience in being part of a team and to observe different aspects of research work.”
Being a successful researcher, and therefore a successful nurse educator, requires several key qualities, Pallikkathayil believes: “It takes energy, enthusiasm, imagination, creativity, patience and persistence. Plus, you have to be able to balance the demands of teaching, research, service and practice requirements and still have a life!”” She also stresses the ability to deal with disappointment, because of the amount of rejection that goes along with research. “You won’t get funded each time you apply for a grant,” she explains.
Nursing professors are often quick to recognize a student’s inclination toward research. When Bertha Davis, RN, MS, PhD, FAAN, assistant dean for research at Hampton University’s School of Nursing in Hampton, Va., encounters a student who is a critical thinker and shows curiosity about why and how things happen, she knows he or she would make a great researcher.
“When research-oriented students create care plans or research papers, they are really detailed about rationales and they question information,” says Davis, who is also a professor at the historically black university. “They look for alternative points of view in the clinical setting. When students possess those qualities, I want to see them continue their education.”
Educators such as Davis are eager to develop more minority nurse research professors, because of the enormous need for culturally sensitive research on diseases and health risks that disproportionately affect people of color. “I believe all faculty members should review their notions about cultural appropriateness to help create culturally competent research practices,” Davis states.
However, she cautions, “Just because a faculty member is a minority does not mean that they are sensitive to all people in their culture. There are many subcultures, and we have to learn what research subjects’ specific environments are like.”
Packaging Your Career
Back when Maria Warda, RN, PhD, was a health care administrator, she discovered she had been preparing to move into a career in academia—without even knowing it. Her experiences in a variety of work environments and countries, and the joy she felt in helping new nurses develop themselves professionally, made her want to use this passion to teach nurses in a college or university setting.
“That’s when I decided to return to school for a doctorate,” says Warda, who is now assistant dean of diversity enhancement and academic services at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. “I believe good faculty members must have a passion for lifelong learning, as well as a real commitment to enhancing the learning experiences of their students.”
Teaching can be particularly rewarding for minority nurses, adds Warda. “Minority nursing faculty members have different perspectives [than majority faculty],” she says. “It’s important for us to bring those perspectives to the classroom and share them with students.”
Faculty Salaries 101
A common objection to careers in academia is that faculty members earn lower salaries than nurses in clinical or administrative positions. But is this perception really true?
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reports that college and university nursing professors with doctorates earned an average of $68,779 for the 1999-2000 academic year. What’s more, that figure represents an increase of 3.8% from the previous year.
Even on lower rungs of the academic ladder, faculty earnings compare more favorably with clinical nursing salaries than you might think. Here is the AACN’s breakdown of salaries by rank for the academic year 1999-2000:
Professor
$68,779 (With Doctorate) $62,294 (Without Doctorate)
Associate Professor
$56,585 (With Doctorate) $46,734 (Without Doctorate)
Assistant Professor
$48,738 (With Doctorate) $41,870 (Without Doctorate)
An urgent shortage of nursing faculty isn’t just something to worry about in the future. It’s here now.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 32,000 qualified students in 2004. Most of those schools cited a lack of faculty as the reason these students could not be admitted. Add in a wave of nursing faculty retirements that’s expected to sweep the nation over the next 10 years and the implications for the future of nursing become very serious indeed.
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In light of these alarming statistics, a growing number of nursing graduate programs across the country are offering education-focused master’s degrees–ranging from Master’s in Nursing Education to MSN degrees with a nursing education certificate or option–designed to move nurses from clinical practice into teaching positions quickly. Of course, these types of programs are not exactly new. But what’s newsworthy about them these days is that many schools have recently begun to offer them for the first time as a direct response to the faculty shortage.
Traditionally, nurse educators have taken a long, sometimes daunting path to the faculty ranks. It involved hours in the classroom, both as a student and as a teaching or graduate assistant. A master’s degree was just the beginning: Potential educators were expected to eventually complete a PhD or EdD, terminal degrees conferred after more time in the classroom, extensive research and public service.
Most nursing programs today still require or prefer doctorally prepared faculty, especially for teaching at the baccalaureate level and above. But with the current hemorrhaging of the nursing faculty supply, there’s no denying that a fast-track approach to producing more nurse educators is becoming more and more of a necessity.
From Nurse to Teacher
Heather Griffin, an African American nurse who was born in Jamaica, is one of those students who will soon be making the transition from clinical nurse to nursing educator. She will graduate in May from William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., with an MSN degree with a concentration in nursing education. And she’s already fielding offers to become a faculty member.
Griffin returned to school for her master’s after working as a nurse for 15 years. One reason was purely physical. She says she felt it wouldn’t be too many more years before the eight-to-12-hour shifts she regularly worked would take their toll on her back and legs. But her biggest motivation had more to do with her heart and head.
“I always liked teaching and working with nursing students,” she explains, “and this opportunity presented itself. I remember how scared I was when I was a new nurse. I want to support new nurses.”
Choosing a master’s program with a focus on nursing education allowed Griffin to concentrate on her new passion–teaching. While she hasn’t ruled out getting a PhD, it isn’t in her immediate plans.
“The next step in my educational advancement was to pursue a master’s degree,” she emphasizes. “It took me a long time to decide to return to school. Part of the focus in a PhD program is research and, at the time that I decided [to go to graduate school], that did not appeal to me.”
Diversifying the Faculty
As the nursing profession gears up to aggressively recruit and train a new generation of nursing educators to replenish the dwindling supply, it hopes to pull from candidates too often overlooked in the past–minorities and men. Both populations have long been severely underrepresented at the faculty level.
“Our programs need to reflect the demographics of society,” says Kem Louie, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of the graduate nursing program at William Paterson University and past president of the Asian American/Pacific Islander Nurses Association. “Ethnic and [racial] minority populations are increasing and it’s important that [minority] nursing students see role models in those that teach and those that practice.”
Many of the current crop of master’s-level nursing educator programs are specifically reaching out to nurses from diverse backgrounds. For example, the College of New Rochelle (CNR) School of Nursing in New Rochelle, N.Y., which launched its new Nurse Educator Master’s Program last fall, has a large population of African American and Hispanic students.
The mission to attract more nurses from underrepresented populations to teaching careers must begin at the undergraduate level, believes Mary Alice Higgins Donius, EdD, RN, who will become the new dean of the CNR School of Nursing in July. She is currently an associate professor in the School of Nursing at Sound Shore Medical Center.
“We have to identify those students who might be interested in nursing education and reach out to them,” Donius says. “[Nurse educators] need to talk to students about why we like [teaching] and how they can plan a career in nursing education.”
The emergence of online distance-learning courses has helped make graduate school more accessible for many types of students, including more minorities, men and people living in rural communities. Clarkson College, based in Omaha, Neb., is a pioneer in providing online education for health care providers. The college offers an MSN program with an option in nursing education, as well as a post-master’s certificate in nursing education.
“The school is totally online and we have students located all over the country,” notes Marla Erbin-Roesemann, PhD, RN, associate professor and director of the college’s graduate program. Students in the nursing education master’s program visit the campus physically only once or twice during the program. They perform required clinical rotations and preceptor teaching in the communities where they live.
The college makes sure support services are available to help students who need assistance with projects and problems. “Students do get support through their professors and often look to community members for support as well,” Erbin-Roesemann explains. “If they need additional help, it’s handled online. We have counselors on campus. We also have a director of diversity who can talk to students.”
Nurse Educators for Tomorrow
One of the newest master’s degree programs created in response to the nursing faculty shortage is being offered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. Funded by a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), this online program likewise hopes to increase the number of nurse educators from underrepresented populations–nurses of color, men and rural nurses.
The program, known as Nurse Educators for Tomorrow (NET), has an unusual two-pronged focus. It trains nurses to become clinical nurse specialists or nurse practitioners with added post-graduate courses that prepare them to be educators as well. Students must complete the standard 36 hours required by most master’s programs, plus nine additional hours in nursing education, including courses covering online teaching and curriculum development.
“Graduates are prepared to function in either setting–as practitioners and/or educators–so it’s a win-win situation,” says Nadine Nehls, PhD, RN, professor and associate dean for academic programs at the nursing school. On the clinical side, students may specialize in either pediatric or medical-surgical care.
The program’s recruiting efforts are assisted by a community liaison, says Gale Barber, MA, assistant dean for graduate studies. This person does community outreach and is actually housed at a rural site in order to put her closer to prospective students.
How has NET succeeded in its first year? Nehls reports that the program has attracted a large percentage of students from rural areas, but so far no minority or male students. The school is closely examining its recruiting plans with an eye toward developing strategies that will more effectively reach these targeted populations.
“This year, we’re going to do more targeted recruitment,” explains Pam Scheibel, MSN, RN, a clinical professor in the program. “We’re looking at alumni lists and trying to make individualized, tailored outreach to these students.”
Even though the program is taught online, one of the major obstacles to attracting more culturally diverse students seems to be simple geography. Madison just doesn’t have a large minority population, says Barber.
Adds Scheibel, “Several [minority] students who have come here and had good experiences during the recruitment process eventually decided to go to school in another area where there’s more [diversity]. Some also choose schools that are able to offer larger scholarships.”
This year, the school’s recruiting efforts will accentuate the program’s online format, helping students realize that the location of the campus is really not that relevant. “Students can stay in their own communities and do their clinical and teaching experience there,” Barber emphasizes.
Master’s vs. Doctorate
Pursuing a career as a master’s-prepared–rather than doctorally prepared–nursing educator is not for everybody. Nurses who are considering making the move to academia need to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of both options and must evaluate them closely against their particular career goals.
For example, Heather Griffin knows that without a terminal degree, one of the biggest benefits offered by a university–tenure–will not be available for her. The tenure system, exclusive to the academic world, means that a faculty member can’t be fired or downsized except under the most extreme conditions.
“Tenure gives you a sense of permanency and shows that you have paid your dues. You really can’t be asked to leave,” Louie explains.
The lack of a terminal degree will also limit the career advancement options available to a nurse educator. “Having only a master’s degree is going to limit where and how far you go,” says Donius. “A master’s degree in nursing education is a very valuable credential in preparing people for [certain] roles in teaching and nursing. In higher education, though, a master’s degree does have a more limited scope. Nurse educators with master’s degrees are used at the associate degree level and in clinical, off-site settings. If you really want a career in [academic] nursing education, a doctorate will be required.”
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a very rewarding faculty career without that terminal degree–especially if, like Griffin, what you really want to focus on is teaching.
“According to the Board of Nursing, nurses with a master’s degree can teach in academic programs, which gives a more focused concentration in the role of educator,” Louie points out. “The doctoral degree generally provides a research focus or more specialization in the practice of nursing. Many universities have clinical or non-tenured faculty positions which may or may not have a time limit and can be renewed without a doctoral degree.”
It is very important for newly minted nurse educators to make sure their goals match those of the educational institution they join, Louie advises. “Nursing faculty need to conform to university expectations.” Ultimately, she adds, “I believe nurses who want a career of teaching other nurses will eventually continue toward their doctoral degrees.”
The Money Factor
Salary considerations are another factor nurses contemplating a move to teaching must weigh against their career aspirations as well as their personal goals. Many experts believe faculty pay may well be one of the biggest reasons for the shortage in the number of professors. A recent study by ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners revealed that the typical salary for an NP working in an emergency room was around $80,000. That’s $20,000 more than the average nursing professor earns.
“A lot of our students [in the nursing education concentration] do not go into education [when they complete the program],” says Erbin-Roesemann. “They go back to nursing because of the money. Educators earn less than staff nurses.”
And educators with only a master’s degree will earn less than their doctorally prepared counterparts. Louie cites a 2002 report by AACN that showed the median salary for all nurses with doctoral degrees to be around $75,000. Those with master’s degrees earned about $15,000 less.
However, she points out, “[Faculty] pay can vary greatly across the country and depending on the type of nursing program, whether it’s a private or public college, and the regional location.”
Getting In
You’ve weighed all the pros and cons and you’ve decided that a master’s degree program with an emphasis on nursing education is the right option for you. What are your chances of actually getting in?
While methods of delivery have changed, entrance requirements have not. Like most other master’s programs, nursing education programs require a minimum 3.0 GPA, professional and academic references, an essay explaining why you want to enter the program, plus the dreaded GRE®, formally known as the Graduate Record Examination®. The GRE is an assessment test that measures skills in mathematics, comprehension, analytical reasoning and other areas.
“Each [of these entrance requirements] is only one part of an application,” says Nehls. “[In the admissions process,] we look at the whole application.” She adds that the once-common philosophy that years and years of experience were needed to be a good teacher has faded somewhat.
None of the schools interviewed for this article require any previous teaching experience, although many students currently enrolled in their nurse educator programs had worked as preceptors or mentors in clinical settings. At Clarkson College, students may enter the program without any work experience, but are expected to get some quickly.
“Most of our students do have a couple of years experience,” Erbin-Roesemann clarifies. “Students can come right into the master’s program without any work experience but they do need at least one year of experience before starting their option courses. They can get that experience while taking core courses.”
Helping Minority Students Succeed
As the number of underrepresented minority students in graduate school increases, nursing program administrators are taking steps to make sure those students succeed. “ We don’t like to talk about students needing help in graduate school, but sometimes it happens,” says Louie. “Many students, particularly if English is not their native language, may need help with writing. Some students have problems with statistics.”
The graduate program at William Paterson University provides a nursing support coordinator who serves as the “go to” person when students have academic problems or trouble with an assignment. “The coordinator is not a professor, so the student is not intimidated,” Louie explains. “The coordinator can work with the professor to see exactly what is expected. The coordinator’s role is to find someone on campus who can help. We do refer students to other resources in any department at the university.”
Funding Future Faculty
For many nurses, lack of financial resources can be an obstacle that keeps them from returning to school to pursue master’s degrees. That’s why many of the current efforts to address the nursing faculty shortage are offering special scholarships, loans and other types of financial assistance for students who make the commitment to become nursing educators.
Heather Griffin, an African American nurse who is currently completing an MSN degree with a concentration in nursing education at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., was able to take advantage of the federally funded Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP). William Paterson is one of a limited number of universities to receive these funds through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Griffin will be able to cancel 85% of the loan she received by completing the degree and working for five years in an approved educational role.
“I was fortunate enough to go back to school full-time and that made me eligible for the loan,” she says. “It is helping me pay for part of my education. [Going back to school] is difficult when you have other financial responsibilities.”
While this loan program is currently available at only two nursing schools, most colleges and universities do have private resources that fund scholarships and assistantship programs for graduate students. Ask about this when choosing a school. Some funds are awarded based on need, some based on merit and some based on potential. In some parts of the country, financial assistance designed specifically for future nursing educators is available at the state level. The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, as part of its Nursing Education Loan Scholarship (NELS) Program, offers a Nursing Teacher Stipend Program for MSN and PhD students who agree to teach at an accredited nursing school in Mississippi upon graduation. Candidates must be Mississippi residents attending a school in that state.
In Pennsylvania, nurses who are interested in going back to school to teach nursing can receive financial assistance from the Nurse Scholars Program, a partnership between Independence Blue Cross and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. The program will underwrite scholarship funding for qualified students attending an accredited nursing graduate program in five southeastern Pennsylvania counties. It also gives future nurse educators the opportunity to receive grants and scholarships toward their graduate degree directly from the qualified nursing schools they attend.
One national scholarship program created to increase the supply of doctorally prepared nursing educators is the Monster Healthcare-American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Nursing Faculty Scholarship. Launched in August 2005, this program provides $25,000 scholarships, plus part-time clinical employment and health benefits, to students enrolled full-time in a baccalaureate-to-doctoral degree or Doctor of Nursing Practice program who intend to pursue faculty careers. Upon graduation, recipients must serve in a teaching capacity at a nursing school for a minimum of one year for each year of scholarship support received.
When you choose your allied health graduate program, you want to make sure you get a great education and solid professional training. But let’s face it, you also want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck. With graduate school costs on the rise, your investment has to pay off in the long run. Each grad program offers different pros and cons, including varying tuition prices, teaching assistantships, financial aid packages, faculty, rankings and more. So how do you decide on both which program is best for you, and how it will affect your starting salary upon graduation?
There are many factors that impact one’s initial earnings. As you consider these points, always keep in mind the big picture. Remember that your starting salary is only the beginning and not necessarily an indication of your future earnings in the field.
Geographic Location
Where do you see yourself living and working during your professional career? Many people choose to look for jobs in the same region as where they attend graduate school. This often provides a leg up for job opportunities, since local recruiters tend to visit schools in their immediate area. Also, most programs require students to complete fieldwork and internships, and this will help you to build professional contacts that may lead to future job offers. These experiences are some of the best ways to make contacts that will lead to employment. If you are unsure about where you want to settle, consider schools that are more nationally known, rather than regional schools that only have employment contacts and alumni within that state or city.
Supply and Demand
It’s a basic law of economics: when supply goes down, demand goes up. Let’s say there is a region of the country that is short on physical therapists, where clients have to wait several weeks or even months to get an appointment. You can virtually guarantee that physical therapists will command higher salaries in that area as employers try to lure them to the location. Similarly, what do you think will happen in a city that is glutted with dieticians? Employers won’t recruit dieticians or offer higher starting salaries since they already have as many or more than needed to satisfy the population. Logically, starting salaries tend to be higher in regions that are short on specific allied health professionals to meet the needs of their residents.
Cost of Living
Not all starting salaries are created equal. The reality is that $40,000 in Boise, Idaho goes a lot further than it does in San Francisco. Numbers that seem low can be relative when you factor in the costs required for basic survival. Before getting discouraged, research the cost of living in each region. Determine what your average expenses will be including rent, utilities, food, transportation and entertainment. Utilize salary calculators to see what your offer translates to nationwide. Try the links at Home Fair and Best Places.
Experience/Personal Qualities
Just like all starting salaries are not created equal, neither are all new graduates. Allied health professionals enter graduate school with a variety of experiences and backgrounds. Some have worked for several years before applying; others come right from their undergraduate studies, and still others transition from one field to another with lengthy professional careers behind them. Grades, internships, volunteer work and the general impression made on the interviewer add up to a candidate’s overall value. As employers review resumes, interview candidates, proffer offers and put together new hire packages, they take the total composite of each candidate into consideration. There is usually a salary range set for each position, but often this range can vary by as much as $10,000 – $20,000. Whether you will be on the high or low end of that spectrum will depend in a large part on your prior experience and what unique personal qualities you bring to the table.
Reputation of Program
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Rankings are not always an accurate way to determine which school is best for you, but they can give you insight into how programs may be viewed by employers.
Characteristics are rated such as faculty-to-student ratio and career placement. In some fields and some cities, rankings matter more than others. As you consider various graduate school programs, speak to professionals in your field to gain their perspective. Sometimes foregoing a big name school for one that will offer more personalized attention and a greater financial aid package can be beneficial. Ask yourself if you would rather graduate with a potentially higher salary, but greater debt. However, in other situations, a more competitive program may offer you access to more opportunities, such as networking with successful and well-connected alumni. Click here for more information.
Industry/Work Setting Think about your professional goals. In what type of setting do you wish to work? Salaries will vary whether a hospital, private practice, clinic, public health agency or university employs you. Speak to professionals and professors to determine the typical ranges for each employment setting. Look at job listings to see if they list salary information. Professional associations are also an excellent way to determine starting salaries for each field. Useful salary links for allied health include the AMA, www.salary.com and www.healthcarejobstore.com.
The Big Picture
Be sure to consider the whole picture as you make your graduate school decisions. There is no one overriding factor when it comes to predicting starting salary. Rather, a combination of aspects will determine which is the best choice for your future, as well as your wallet. Each graduate school offers different benefits that will make your experience worthwhile both personally and professionally. Just the same, each job has advantages that go beyond simply the numbers on your paycheck, including health insurance, vacation time, continuing education reimbursement and more. If you view each position as a stepping-stone on the ladder of your future, you can see your starting salary in the context of your career.
