Addressing the Nursing Faculty Shortage – NEON and Beyond State Higher Education Executive Officers Professional Development Conference August 14, 2004 Jere Mock, NEON Project Co-director

WICHE and the West A Half Century of Collaboration 1953: WICHE created by Congressional Compact WICHE now includes 15 states and is noted for: Student Exchange Programs Policy studies Multi-state initiatives (WCET; CONAHEC) Offices in Boulder, Colorado

Northwest Academic Forum Since 1984 has fostered regional resource sharing and collaboration Members include doctoral and master’s level institutions and state governing and coordinating boards in 10 states WICHE and NWAF have jointly created NEON, the Northwest Educational Outreach Network

The Northwest Educational Outreach Network (NEON) NEON’s mission: To increase student access to high demand academic programs using electronically delivered courses To leverage regional academic resources that can be shared across states and institutions

NEON’s Funding NEON is funded by a 3-year, $616,337 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) (10/02 – 9/05) Three focus areas: Nursing PhD Logistics & Supply Chain Management Teacher Education/Library Media Specialist

NEON’s role: Leverage regional resources that can be shared across states and institutions Build on WICHE’s student exchange programs that expand the availability of higher education Increase student access using electronically delivered courses Lower administrative barriers to inter- institutional collaboration Facilitate interinstitutional and interstate cooperation

NEON’s Activities 1. Matching students with a single provider institution 2. Fostering and coordinating joint programs among institutions 3. Creating Web resources that assist students 4. Creating a course exchange among institutions

The PhD in Nursing Increasing the number of doctorally-prepared nurse educators in NWAF/WICHE states

Faculty shortage: crisis proportions Contributing factors… Faculty retirements Departure from academics to other work opportunities (advanced practice and admininistration) Faculty workload and expectations Lack of access to doctoral programs in nursing

Impact of National Nursing Shortage on Education More than one million openings for RNs projected by 2010… Who will educate these “additional” nurses? Shortage of faculty is contributing to the general nursing shortage by limiting the number of students admitted into nursing programs.

Qualified Nursing Applicants Denied Admissions According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2004): The numbers of qualified nursing school applicants who could not be accommodated due to the lack of faculty = : 5, : 18,105

WIN/NEON Survey 2003 A survey of Western Institute of Nursing/WICHE region colleges of nursing in February 2003, with 20 institutions responding… Total faculty1,018 Total doctorally-prepared faculty47246% Current vacant nursing faculty positions 727% Openings for doctorally-prepared faculty in next 5 years 16735% How many of these openings will be due to retirement 12072%

NEON Strategy: Nursing PhD Address the critical shortage of Ph.D. nurse educators in Western states by working with schools and colleges of nursing to expand Ph.D. enrollments using distance programs Create “access partnerships” for collaborative course development and program sharing Create a regional Web site to market new and existing Ph.D. programs and foster inter-institutional collaborations

NEON Analysis: Nursing PhD Of the 18 Western institutions with whom we have met: 6 have established nursing PhD programs, five with distance options: University of Arizona – online University of Colorado Health Sciences Center – online University of Northern Colorado – online University of Utah – online Oregon Health & Science University – ITV University of Hawaii – in-person/on campus

NEON Analysis: Nursing PhD Of the 18 Western institutions with whom we have met: 5 do not have or plan to have nursing PhD programs: University of Alaska Anchorage Idaho State University Montana State University Bozeman University of Nevada Reno University of Wyoming

NEON Analysis: Nursing PhD Of the 18 Western institutions with whom we have met: 4 are developing nursing PhD programs with distance options: University of New Mexico New Mexico State University University of Nevada Las Vegas Washington State University

NEON Analysis: Nursing Ed For nursing education programs: At least 3 have graduate-level certificate programs At least 4 have post-masters certificate programs Most have courses that are available as part of master’s or doctoral programs Three will have PhD programs focused on nursing education Most have at least some of their nursing education courses available online

NEON/OHSU Access Partnership Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) will begin to deliver its distance regional nursing PhD program in fall 2004 or 2005 to accepted OHSU students at: University of Alaska, Anchorage – 2004 Idaho State University – 2005 University of Nevada, Reno – 2005? University of Wyoming – 2005

NEON Collaborating with WIN: NursingPhD.org Create the NursingPhD.org Web site to serve two audiences: Potential nursing doctoral students Current doctoral students and doctoral faculty Collaborating with the Western Institute of Nursing (WIN) to expand the site

NEON Collaborating with WIN: NEXus Project Nursing Education Xchange: Build capacity by partnering to share academic resources Through sharing, reduce development costs Improve quality and retention by increasing course options Overcome barriers to enrolling in shared courses Create an online community Tap faculty resources at non-doctoral schools and colleges of nursing

NEON Collaborating with WIN: NEXus Project Nursing Education Xchange: Build capacity by partnering to share academic resources Pilot partners: Oregon Health Sciences University University of Arizona University of Colorado Health Sciences Center University of Northern Colorado University of Utah

NEON Project Contacts Jere Mock NEON co-director Russell Poulin NEON co-director Ellie Greenberg NEON consultant ;