NLN and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Launch National Survey

Joint Study Examines Compensation, Workload, and Teaching Practices

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2006

New York, NY.... In an historic step in nursing education research, the National League for Nursing and the Carnegie Foundation today launched the National Survey of Nurse Educators: Compensation, Workload, and Teaching Practices.

Explained NLN CEO Dr. Ruth Corcoran, "We were invited to collaborate with the Carnegie Foundations National Nursing Education Study because of our reputation and standing in the nursing education community, as well as our capacity to survey nurse faculty across all types of RN programs."

In line with the NLNs research goal to provide and interpret data about the nurse educator workforce, the survey has been designed to enable comparisons with faculty in other academic disciplines and help nursing education administrators and others to demonstrate differences in workload, make the case for increasing nurse faculty salaries to a competitive level, and improve recruitment and retention.

The National Nursing Education Study, headed by Dr. Patricia Benner, is part of the larger Carnegie Foundation-funded Preparation for the Professions Program, an integrated, comparative study of education for professional understanding, integrity, and practice in five fields: clergy, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing. Site visits to observe classroom and clinical teaching/learning encounters and to survey teachers and students were made to nine schools with a reputation for excellence in teaching that offer pre-RN licensure programs comprised the nursing study. Data from these observations and surveys require validation among a national sample of randomly selected faculty in non-visited schools. This will be provided by the National Survey of Nurse Educators: Compensation, Workload, and Teaching Practices.

Open to all nurse faculty and administrators employed in prelicensure or graduate-level RN programs, the study explores several questions:

• What classroom and clinical teaching challenges do nurse faculty face?
• How do nurse educator salaries compare to colleagues in clinical practice?
• Are compensation and workload issues undermining nurse faculty retention?

Concludes Dr. Corcoran, "The NLNs commitment to nursing education research cannot be overstated. This extraordinary collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will help the NLN continue to transform nursing education."

Editors and reporters: : For interview opportunities, please contact NLN chief communications officer, Karen R. Klestzick, at 212-812-0376, kklestzick@nln.org.