Sara E. Barger

Establishing a nursing center: Learning from the literature and the experiences of others

In the midst of health care reform, academic nursing centers are well-positioned as cost-effective health care providers. As practice sites that are integral components of nursing academic units, these centers provide educational experiences for students, practice sites for faculty, nursing services to the community, and settings for nursing research. The success of these centers is determined by their ability to manage seven major issues of implementation: funding, integrating the center into the community, services, marketing, legal and regulatory issues, faculty issues, and research issues. While these issues require considerable attention, it is critical that centers capitalize on the opportunities provided by the current health policy climate.

Schools with Nursing Centers: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study.

The article reviews the growing body of literature that examines academic nursing centers in the aggregate including the first such study conducted by the primary author 5 years earlier. A follow-up study to this original work was conducted to determine current demographics and faculty practice policies of schools or colleges of nursing that operate nursing centers and to compare these findings with those of schools without nursing centers. A survey was sent to the deans or directors of the 462 National League of Nursing (NLN)-accredited baccalaureate nursing programs. Although there were 362 respondents to the survey (78 per cent), only 41 indicated they had a nursing center. Schools with nursing centers were significantly more likely to be in public institutions (P = .05), and offer masters degrees (P = .01). They also were significantly larger (P = .01), with a mean of 34 full time-equivalent (FTE) faculty members. Then the administrative policies of schools with nursing centers (N = 41) were compared with those of schools without centers but with practicing faculty (N = 187). Requiring practice was not a common policy in either group. While about one-third of both groups had practice plans, the majority were described as informal. More schools with nursing centers had other formalized practice arrangements than did schools without centers (P = .01). Faculty practice was more likely to be a criterion for promotion (P = .05) but not for tenure in schools with nursing centers. An inverse relationship (P = .05) was found between the amount of practice revenue generated and the presence of a nursing center.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Nursing faculty practice : an organizational perspective

After reviewing the faculty practice literature of the 1980s and finding philosophical support for practice but also growing concerns about faculty role overload, the authors report a study to identify organizational factors that influence the role expectations of faculty members about practice. A survey was sent to the deans or directors of all National League for Nursing--accredited baccalaureate nursing programs (n = 462). Of the 356 respondents (78 per cent), 224 (63.3 per cent) reported that their school had practicing faculty, but only 20 schools (8.8 per cent) required practice. Written faculty practice plans were reported by 23 schools (10.2 per cent), and nursing centers by 41 schools. Thirty-six respondents (16 per cent) reported that practicing faculty generated revenue for the school. Practice was required for promotion in 15.8 per cent and for tenure in 15.3 per cent of all schools surveyed. The study showed significant direct relationships between masters and doctoral programs and practicing faculty, but there was an inverse relationship between the presence of a health science center and schools with practicing faculty. Organizational factors relating to both the number and per cent of faculty who practiced included requiring practice, having a practice plan, and having practice as a criterion for promotion and for tenure. Revenue generation and presence of formalized practice arrangements were related to the number of faculty who practiced but not the per cent of the total faculty who practiced. The studys findings have implications for nursing education in designing organizational structures and rewards that support faculty practice.

Nursing faculty practice: Institutional and individual facilitators and inhibitors

This study explored the relationship between specific organizational variables within schools of nursing and the extent of faculty practice. Organizational variables under study included affiliation, administrative policies concerning faculty practice, size of faculty, and presence of a practice site within the nursing academic unit. Also examined were the personal factors of faculty members and their relationship to practice. Factors examined were age, marital status, education, area of clinical expertise, research productivity and teaching load. In the initial survey, deans or directors of NLN-accredited nursing programs provided demographic data on their schools and information about their administrative policies. On the basis of these data, a sample of 41 schools was selected for participation in the studys second phase. In a survey of 1,507 faculty members of these schools, 1,036 (68.7 per cent) provided demographic data on themselves and information regarding their practice. Findings using analysis of variance suggest that administrative policies do not significantly impact the extent of faculty practice; however, personal factors, such as age, marital status, and education (doctoral degree), do affect the extent of practice. The study suggests that stimuli for practice come not from the institution but from the individual faculty member. Such findings have implications for the development and socialization of the role of nurse faculty.

The delivery of Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Program services by NPs in a nursing center.

Enacted in 1967 as a required component of the Medicaid program, the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Program combines outreach, health screening, follow-up care for detected conditions, and case management. This article describes the delivery of this programs services by nurse practitioners in an academic nursing center. Detailed are the Nursing Centers activities to develop a services contract for the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Program and to improve client access. Issues discussed include protocol development, prescriptive authority and referral to health care providers accepting Medicaid. Services are evaluated by auditors, faculty, students and clients. The article concludes with suggestions for other providers or potential providers of the program.