H. Michael Dreher

The Benefits of a Leadership Program and Executive Coaching for New Nursing Academic Administrators: One College's Experience

Despite attention given to the nursing shortage and now the nursing faculty shortage, what is perhaps less visible but equally critical are the pending retirements of most of the current cadre of academic nursing administrators in the next decade. With only 2.1% of current deans, directors, and department chairs in 2006 aged 45 years or younger, there may be a pending crisis in leadership development and succession planning in our nursing schools and colleges. This article describes an innovative leadership development program for largely new nursing academic administrators, which combined a formal campus-based leadership symposia and executive coaching. This article is particularly useful and practical in that actual case studies are described (albeit modified slightly to protect the identity of the individual administrator), providing a real-life narrative that rarely makes its way into the nursing academic administration literature. The executive coaching focus is very sparsely used in nursing academia, and this colleges success using this professional development strategy is likely to become a template for other institutions to follow.

A Report on a National Study of Doctoral Nursing Faculty

This article reports on a national study of doctoral nursing faculty, including both PhD and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) faculty. Using a national sample of 624 doctoral nursing faculty, we surveyed individuals on a variety of issues, including succession planning, retirement, quality of life as a doctoral faculty member, their views on the new DNP degree, and how they view the future of doctoral nursing education. Study implications for both DNP and PhD faculty are explored and the meaning of the findings of the study for the future are discussed, including new items that will be investigated in a repeat survey in 2012.

Lipodystrophy Syndrome: The Morphologic and Metabolic Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV Infection

Widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to manage HIV infection is now associated with the development of lipodystrophy syndrome. This syndrome is a combination of such morphologic and metabolic changes as hyperlipidemia, fat redistribution, and insulin resistance. Although many of the long-term effects of HAART have not been fully recognized, it is thought that lipodystrophy syndrome may now contribute to early-onset hypercholesterolemia, heart disease, and diabetes, and may have a negative psychological impact on the individual living with HIV infection.

The future of oncology nursing science: who will generate the knowledge?

393 The current system for doctoral education in nursing does not have the capacity to prepare the number of graduates necessary to replace retiring faculty, nor does it have a sufficient number of nurse researchers to generate knowledge for the discipline (Potempa, Redman, & Anderson, 2008). According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2007), a large percentage of senior nursing faculty members will retire by 2012, and nearly half the current nursing faculty is likely to retire by 2016. Many senior faculty members are PhD-prepared faculty as well as funded researchers. Therefore, in the United States, the nursing profession is at an important crossroads that could determine the direction of doctoral nursing education. Given the projections, doctoral nursing education will need to be re-evaluated, even with the introduction of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree. The practice and research contexts of the nursing discipline will have to be reconnected, and focus will have to be placed on nursing knowledge development (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2009). Many forces influence doctoral education and knowledge development: (a) the nursing faculty shortage; (b) the older age of individuals who complete their PhDs, many on a lengthy part-time basis; and (c) the creation of the nonresearch DNP degree, a professional practice doctorate. In reports by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), student enrollment in DNP programs has increased 176% (N = 3,291), from 1,874 students in 2007 to 5,165 students in 2009 (Fang, Tracy, & Bednash, 2010; Raines, 2010). The extraordinary growth of DNP student enrollment is related to the surge of new DNP programs in that period, 53 in 2007 to 119 in 2009. However, PhD programs have remained stagnant, with an increase in student enrollment of only 5% (N = 204), from 3,973 students in 2007 The Future of Oncology Nursing Science: Who Will Generate the Knowledge?

Wake-up call for sleep apnea.

Treating obstructive sleep apnea can significantly reduce a patients risk of cardiovascular complications, including stroke. Heres how to intervene.

Faculty colleagues in your classroom as doctoral students: is there a conflict of interest?

The 4 authors, a faculty member, department chair, associate dean, and college dean, identify and analyze issues surrounding nursing faculty as doctoral student, particularly when faculty members are enrolled in their employers doctoral nursing program.