The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston School of Nursing, Hou-ston, USA. Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA. Departments of Pediatrics & Ethics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA.
The nation’s nursing shortage is predicted to worsen, as nurses retire (supply) and more patients have access to care with the full enactment of the Affordable Care Act (demand). Schools of nursing are under continuing pressure to increase enrollment in entry level nursing programs [1-4]. Nurse educators have been engaged in a variety of creative and innovative projects to increase enrollment with some success. A primary reason for the lack of educational capacity is the shortage of nursing faculty [3-7]. The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston School of Nursing undertook an innovative project to alleviate the nursing faculty shortage at that school. Working with a retired physician group, physician volunteers were solicited to teach in the laboratory portion of an undergraduate health assessment course. Twenty-two physicians volunteered in the first year in a class that involved forty baccalaureate students in their first-semester. The objectives of the project were twofold: First, to determine the suitability of retired physicians to serve as teachers of baccalaureate nursing students and second, ascertain possible monetary savings by using these physicians. Both of these goals were realized. The students valued the physicians’ enthusiasm, wisdom and experience and the cohort of physicians equaled the equivalent of four nursing faculty members. With an average annual faculty salary of $100,000, savings were significant.
Starck, P. , Liss, S. , Gomez, G. and Speer, M. (2013) Utilization of retired physicians as nursing faculty. Open Journal of Nursing, 3, 481-484. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2013.37065.
[1] Texas Nursing Education Capacity Team (2012). Texas nursing: Our future depends on it. A strategic plan for the state of Texas to meet nursing workforce needs of 2013.
www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/TexasTeam/TexasStrategy.pdf [2] Texas Nurses Association (2010). RN supply & demand.
http://www.texasnurses.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=82 [3] Janiszewski, G.H. (2003) The nursing shortage in the United States of America: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 43, 335-343.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02722_1.x [4] Fitzpatrick, J. and Emerson, E.E. (2011) 201 careers in nursing. Springer Publishing Company, New York. [5] United States General Accounting Office (2012) Nursing workforce: Emerging nurse shortages due to multiple factors. United States General Accounting Office Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01944.pdf [6] Reinert, J., Bigelow, A. and Kautz, D.D. (2012) Overcoming nursing faculty shortages and bridging the gap between education and practice. Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, 28, 216-218.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NND.0b013e318269fc6c [7] Tanner, C.A., Gubrud-Howe, P. and Shores, L. (2008) The Oregon Consortium for nursing education: A response to the nursing shortage. Policy Politics Nursing Practice, 9, 203-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527154408323043 [8] Virshup, B. and Coombs, R.H. (1993) Physicians’ adjustment to retirement. Western Journal of Medicine, 158, 142-144. [9] Liss, S.E., Cohen, I.M. and Charalampous, K.D. (2001) Insights into physician retirement. Texas Medicine, 97, 72-74.