Nurse Educator Role
Old Dominion University School of Nursing initiated the NURSE EDUCATOR ROLE option in the MSN program in fall 2003. This curriculum is designed to meet the critical need for nurse educators throughout Virginia and other states.
About the program: The Nurse Educator role option in the MSN program is offered as a part-time or full-time web-based course of study. Internships may involve day, evening or weekend hours depending on placements. A 15-credit post-masters certificate program is available for those with an MSN. The curriculum plans are available at the links above.
Contact Information:
Dr. Karen Karlowicz, Role Coordinator
Ph: 757-683-5262, Mail: kkarlowi@odu.edu
Dr.Laurel Garzon, Graduate Program Director
Ph:757-683-5250, Mail:lgarzon@odu.edu
Sue Parker, Graduate Program Administrative Assistant
Ph:757-683-4298, Mail:sparker@odu.edu
How to apply:
Obtain and complete the ODU Graduate application online or mail in your application to Graduate Admissions.Do not send application materials to the School of Nursing. All application materials must be completed by June 1 for consideration for fall admission. All distance students should submit all application materials to their site directors or to distance admission on campus. All non-distance students should submit all application materials to ODU graduate admissions. Please request three references as indicated on the application form using the forms supplied. The references should be former supervisors and faculty. You will need to request that official copies of all your transcripts be sent to graduate admissions. You are asked to compose a goal statement and complete a supplemental application form. You must submit satisfactory scores on either the Miller Analogy Test (MAT) or the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission. The scores required for regular admission are 400 on the MAT or 1000 total on two sections of the GRE (verbal and quantitative). Students with scores below these levels will be considered for provisional admission based on a review of all admission materials submitted. .
National Nursing Faculty Shortage
There is a national nursing faculty vacancy rate of 8-10% (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2000; Hinshaw, 2001). These are fully funded, core faculty positions that have been filled in the past. This trend will worsen as 784 senior nursing faculty in the southeast retire during the next decade (SREB, 2002; Kelly, 2002). During the 2000-2001 academic year 144 nurse educators retired. During that same year, 350 nursing faculty resigned, of which 249 held master's degrees. Reasons given for resignation included salary, inability to maintain clinical practice, lack of preparation for teaching and taking more lucrative positions in practice. Eighty-six nursing programs in the southeast have indicated an unprecedented number of unfilled faculty positions, 306 full-time and 126 part-time (SREB, 2002). The shortage is related to many factors and the solutions must be broad in scope with short and long-term solutions (Trossman, 2002).
Virginia's Shortage of Nursing Faculty
The Virginia Partnership for Nursing (2001), a coalition of professionals in nursing practice, nursing education and health care management, has recommended increasing the supply of nurses by increasing the enrollment in nursing programs. This approach will provide an infusion of new graduates into the workforce. However, nursing educational programs, both RN and LPN, have experienced unprecedented numbers of nursing faculty retirements and have had difficulty in recruiting new faculty. In a survey of Virginia's nursing programs conducted in 2001, program directors indicated that faculty are nearing retirement with over 50% of faculty over 50 years of age. In baccalaureate degree, associate degree and diploma programs from 6 to 29% of faculty positions are unfilled or filled by those without MSN's. In practical nursing programs the percentage of those without the MSN is 78% (Virginia Board of Nursing,2000-2001). There are critical shortages of faculty in specialties including pediatrics, obstetrics, women's health and mental health as well as medical-surgical nursing. Nursing program accreditation requires that all nursing faculty hold at least a Master of Science in Nursing. The School of Nursing at ODU was among the first in the state to reinstitute a MSN program with a nurse education focus to recruit, educate and mentor new nursing faculty for the LPN, Associate Degree, Diploma and Baccalaureate nursing programs.
The Old Dominion University Nurse Educator Role
This initiative is a collaboration between Old Dominion University School of Nursing, the schools of nursing in the Virginia Community College System and other schools of nursing within and outside of Virginia. Old Dominion has a long-standing relationship with these partners in the TELETECHNET undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. The graduate courses for either the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in Family Nurse Practitioner and Leadership in Nursing are currently offered at most of the community colleges sites in Virginia.
This initiative offers a MSN track and post-masters certificate program to prepare nursing educators. The 36-credit program may be completed in one year full-time or two years part-time, or as a 15-credit post-masters certificate. In addition to the required MSN core content on nursing theory, research and issues of practice, the curriculum includes courses on teaching methods,technology in education, evaluation methods, incorporating diversity into the education process, strategies for student and faculty success, and mentored teaching experiences. Faculty for this program include a number of expert faculty from Old Dominion University. The community college nursing faculty often serve as experts and preceptors for the internship experiences. The courses for this program are offered in a web-based format that use a combination of other distance technologies including online chats, audio and video conferences, video evaluation of teaching experiences, and mentored teaching interships.
