NLN Publishes New Toolkit© for Recruitment and Retention of Military Nurse Officers for Second Careers in Nursing Education
 September 28, 2018 | ||
| For Immediate Release | Contact: Jane Calem Rosen 201-906-7339; janeruth515@gmail.com | |
| NLN Publishes New Toolkit© for Recruitment and Retention of Military Nurse Officers for Second Careers in Nursing Education | ||
|
Washington, DC, September 28, 2018 —
With no end in sight to the growing shortage of nurse educators, the National League for Nursing is urging schools of nursing to consider a novel source of potential faculty: veteran military nurse officers (MNOs). With the publication of its latest Toolkit©, Preparing Military Nurse Officers for an Effective Second Career in Nursing Education, the NLN aims to support deans, directors, and faculty in nursing programs across the academic spectrum as they seek to recruit, hire, and integrate these highly skilled leaders weighing their options for second careers in the health care sector as they exit the armed services.
Three stellar nurse educators, two of whom are also MNOs, collaborated with the NLN to develop the toolkit: Drs. Myrna L. Armstrong, nursing consultant and professor emerita, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Colonel (R), ANC; Patricia Allen, professor and director, Nursing Education Track, Distinguished University Professor, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; and Donna Lake, clinical associate professor at East Carolina University College of Nursing and Colonel, USAF NC (R). The document offers a roadmap for understanding compatibilities and differences between military service and higher education. In highlighting attitudes and skill sets that are naturally transferable and raising awareness of significant ways in which the two cultures diverge, it encourages academic institutions to realistically examine their own requirements, norms, and expectations and evaluate how these may be adjusted to accommodate faculty coming from a military background. The toolkit also provides a wealth of practical guidance for managing the processes of recruitment, hiring, and assimilation, including professional development and supportive mentoring. Job satisfaction has been identified as a key factor in faculty retention, another critical aspect of addressing the faculty shortage. "The MNO veteran group is currently an untapped resource, rich in clinical nursing practice, teaching skills, and leadership competencies," noted NLN President G. Rumay Alexander, EdD, RN, FAAN, professor and associate vice chancellor/chief diversity officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Here is a way for MNOs to continue meaningful service to our country by helping to meet our health care needs and at the same time, provide one timely, innovative solution to the contemporary nursing faculty shortage." Added NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN: "This NLN toolkit is both strategic and visionary, it's a resource that academic institutions are sure to find indispensible as they engage in achieving twin goals of filling faculty vacancies and facilitating the redirection of valuable experience gained in the military to the education of a diverse, culturally sensitive nursing workforce prepared to deliver outstanding patient care to advance the health of the nation and the global community." A downloadable PDF of the complete 2018 Preparing Military Nurse Officers for an Effective Second Career in Nursing Education Toolkit may be found at here. For additional faculty toolkits, interested faculty may visit here. About the National League for Nursing Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its more than 40,000 individual and more than 1,200 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations. Join the NLN's online community.  | ||
| 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20037 | www.nln.org To unsubscribe from Press Releases email, send an email to unsubscribe@nln.org |