Is the DNP the Answer to the Nursing FacultyShortage? Not Likely!nuf_197 266..270

Karen Kelly, EdD, RN, NEA-BC

The DNP is being touted as the answer to thefaculty shortage. There is no evidence that DNPgraduates are any more willing to embrace thelow salaries of nursing faculty than PhDgraduates. The idea of the DNP as the answer tothe faculty shortage is challenged.Search terms: DNP nursing faculty, nursingfaculty shortage, DNP graduates, nursingfaculty salaries

Karen Kelly, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, is Associate Professor,Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School ofNursing, Edwardsville, IL.

The shortage of nursing faculty is no longer news toanyone. The faculty shortage is clearly noted as one ofthe factors in the accelerating nursing shortage and asan obstacle to slowing or reversing the shortage.There are both efforts and recommendations offeredto mitigate the faculty shortage. For example, thereare legislative efforts at the federal and state levels,such as scholarship and fellowship programs, toencourage nurses to choose teaching over clinicalpractice or administration and to give current facultyincentives to stay in teaching positions (AmericanAssociation of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2009b;Illinois Center for Nursing, 2009). The expansion ofdoctoral education, especially programs offering thedoctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree, is alsoviewed by some as one potential means of turningthe faculty shortage around.

Both accrediting bodies for nursing education pro-grams, the National League for Nursing (2005) andthe AACN (2009c), have addressed the faculty short-age on their Web sites through information and intheir government affairs agendas. The AACN (2009d)has noted that while more students are enrolling inentry-level and graduate-level nursing education pro-grams, more than 40,000 qualified students wereturned away from both undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in 2009. These nursing programsreported that the shortage of faculty, along with ashortage of clinical sites, was a primary factor in lim-iting enrollment.

Thirty or so years ago teaching was the most likelycareer option for those completing graduate work innursing. In my own graduate class of 10 in the mid-1970s, at least 7 went into teaching positions duringthe first year or two after completing their graduatedegrees in nursing. In our graduate program we

Mailing address: 1034 Nottinghill Drive, O’Fallon, IL 62269-6874, Telephone: 618-650-3908; Email: kkelly@siue.edu.

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NURSING

266 © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

could choose functional roles, within our clinical spe-cialty, in teaching, practice, or administration. Mostchose teaching because those were the primary posi-tions open to nurses with graduate degrees in themid-1970s. There were few clinical specialist positionsavailable, and those tended to pay little more thanstaff nurse wages. Nurse practitioner programs werestill primarily certificate programs, not graduate pro-grams. Management positions did not demandgraduate preparation. Teaching was rewarding work,paid a decent salary, and allowed most educators theopportunity to work 9 months of the year. Doctoralprograms in nursing were very limited in numberand geographically inaccessible to many nurse educa-tors. During that same era, large numbers of nurseeducators sought doctoral degrees in education orrelated social sciences in order to achieve tenure andpromotion in universities because doctoral programsin nursing were not accessible unless a nurse educa-tor was able to relocate or commute in age longbefore online education.

Today this paradigm has shifted dramatically.Graduate programs in nursing focus on advanced prac-tice roles (e.g., nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists)or on functional roles such as clinical nurse leader,nursing administration, or nursing education. Accessto nursing education is no longer limited by geo-graphic boundaries as a result of online programs.Doctoral programs in nursing abound, especially withthe development of the DNP degree and the dramaticexpansion of doctoral programs in nursing in thelast 5 years. In June 2010 the AACN’s Web site listedover 125 current DNP programs and noted that about100 more were in the planning process (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/DNPProgramList.htm). Yet weare experiencing a faculty shortage of epic propor-tions because the paradigm shift has created somany opportunities for nurses with graduate and doc-toral degrees outside of the academy. As Joyce Fitz-patrick (2008) noted in an editorial on the facultyshortage, “it’s the money” that is driving this facultyshortage.

Doctoral programs in nursing abound,

especially with the development of the

DNP degree and the dramatic expansion of

doctoral programs in nursing in the last

five years.

Show Me the Money!

As a senior student in a BSN program in the early1970s, during the nursing shortage of that era, I heardan experienced nurse recruiter speak to my graduatingclass. She said that talking about money was not pro-fessional; a nurse was supposed to wait for the inter-viewer to raise the issue of money and should notdebate the offer. That advice did not sound very prac-tical or very wise to me then as a child of the icono-clastic 1960s. Now, as a veteran nurse, I see how thatattitude contributed to the economic problems thatnurses, including nurse educators, have experiencedover the decades.

I was the assistant dean in a school of nursing at aMidwestern state university in 1988 when I left teach-ing for nursing administration. I had a job that I lovedin the school of nursing and was considered the heirapparent to the dean. But I was making $8,000 a yearless than some of the new faculty I was helping to hire,the result of a wage freeze the year I completed mydoctoral degree. Leaving nursing education enabledme to gain an immediate 61% salary increase as Iaccepted my first nursing administration position. Ihad planned to take a 3–5-year sabbatical from teach-ing. I did not return to a full-time academic position for14 years because of the salary difference.

Nursing Forum Volume 45, No. 4, October-December 2010 267

Consistent with my own experience, the AACN’s(2009a, 2009c) “DNP FAQ” document and “NursingFaculty Shortage Fact Sheet” both note that better com-pensation in clinical and private-sector settings hasdiverted potential faculty and lured away existingfaculty from poorer paying teaching positions. Thisincludes faculty prepared at both the master’s and thedoctoral level. The FAQs document (AACN, 2009b)promotes the idea of master’s-prepared faculty com-pleting the DNP within their own schools of nursing,“enhancing their standing within the university andincreasing the number of faculty qualified to teach in theDNP program” (p. 4). This document (AACN, 2009b)later notes that faculty salaries have not kept pace withthe service setting but posits that increasing the numberof doctorally prepared faculty through DNP programsshould improve salaries for faculty. This assumption ofhigher levels of education among faculty resulting inhigher salaries seems to be contradicted by the AACN’sown information on faculty salaries and a 2009 surveyon nurse practitioner (NP) salaries (Rollet, 2009). Whilethis fall 2009 survey of 5,908 NPs indicated that doctor-ally prepared NPs, who held any doctoral degree,earned a mean salary of $99,070, NPs in academic posi-tions earned a mean salary of only $81,552. Of the 22practice settings for NPs noted in the salary survey,academia ranked the twentieth.

Looking Into the Future: DNP Graduatesand the Academy

If past performance is any indicator of the future,the likelihood of the DNP degree being the answer tothe nursing faculty shortage is minimal at best. Thefocus of DNP programs is on the advanced practicenurse (e.g., nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists).While some DNP programs are admitting nurseadministrators, the AACN’s (2006) definition of theDNP degree does not allow the admission of thosewith master’s degrees in nursing education. Yet theAACN (2006) proposes that DNP programs will“increase the supply of faculty for practice instruction”

(p. 5). Unless the AACN assumes that DNP graduateswill serve as a pool of part-time faculty to supportclinical instruction, the DNP does not logically seem tobe the answer to the nursing faculty shortage. Howlikely are new DNP graduates to enter teaching roles,as a primary role, when current advanced practicegraduates, prepared at the graduate level, choosehigher paying practice positions over teaching posi-tions? Is that not the key reason we find ourselves in adramatic faculty shortage?

If past performance is any indicator of the

future, the likelihood of the DNP degree

being the answer to the nursing faculty

shortage is minimal at best.

Encouraging DNP advanced practice graduates to bepart of a pool of part-time clinical faculty might behelpful by providing some relief to the shortage ofclinical faculty. However, there are two importantpoints to consider related to advanced practice DNPgraduates serving as clinical faculty. First, juggling twojobs is hard to do. Juggling the responsibilities of workand family with a single job and involvement in profes-sional organizations is very challenging. I have done itfor years, raising two children along the way, and I havewatched my colleagues as they engage in this samejuggling act. Throw in a second job and eventually onerisks physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, and, ulti-mately, burnout. The long-term commitment of DNPgraduates engaged in advanced practice to clinicalteaching cannot be assured. Second, overdependenceon part-time faculty is fraught with its own problems. Intheir report on the Carnegie Foundation’s study onradically reforming nursing education, Benner,

Is the DNP the Answer to the Nursing Faculty Shortage? Not Likely!

268 Nursing Forum Volume 45, No. 4, October-December 2010

Sutphen, Leonard, and Day (2010) identify the fragmen-tation of classroom and clinical teaching and learningexperiences as one of the problems with the currentparadigm of nursing education. Using different facultyfor classroom and clinical teaching can compound thisfragmentation (Benner et al., 2010). Using part-timefaculty, who also have full-time jobs, for clinical teach-ing further compounds this fragmentation. The part-time faculty member, such as an advanced practicenurse with a full-time clinical position, is not likely toattend faculty meetings routinely or to participate inschool of nursing committees. This part-time facultymember is also not likely to have been socialized intothe philosophy, mission, and values of the school as arefull-time faculty, leading to more fragmentation.

While the expansion of doctoral education throughdoctor of nursing practice programs may expand thepool of clinical faculty, there is no evidence that DNPgraduates are any more likely to enter the academy on afull-time basis than current master’s degree graduates.Money has been the driving force of the faculty shortage(AACN, 2009b, 2009c; Fitzpatrick, 2008; Rollet, 2009).There is no evidence that doctorally prepared advancedpractice nurses are more willing to work for the lower

wages-paid faculty than their master’s-prepared peers.While Butler (2010) proposes that DNP graduates canfill the nursing faculty deficit, she fails to explain whyDNP graduates will be willing to work for the lowersalaries of the nursing faculty instead of the salariesassociated with advanced practice roles.

Conclusion

While some may consider the DNP an answer to thenursing faculty shortage, there is no evidence that DNPgraduates will be any more willing to enter theacademy at wages significantly below what they canearn in advanced nursing practice positions. Clearlythe development of the DNP has expanded access tonursing education as evidenced in the AACN’s con-tinuing reports on its Web site of new programs andprograms in planning. However, this access to doc-toral education is no guarantee that more doctorallyprepared nurses will choose the faculty role untilfaculty salaries are more competitive with salaries inclinical and administrative positions.

Is the DNP the answer to the nursing faculty short-age? Sadly, it is not THE answer to the problem. Accessto doctoral education is just one piece in solving thepuzzle. Improving faculty salaries to gain parity withour colleagues in advanced practice and administra-tion is another major piece to resolving the problem.Addressing faculty workload issues, especially thosethat arise around time spent in direct clinical supervi-sion of undergraduates, will also help ease the facultyshortage. But those are both issues for further exami-nation in other papers. Until these other issues areaddressed, the DNP is just one step in solving thefaculty shortage in schools of nursing.

Author contact: kkelly@siue.edu, with a copy to the Editor:nursingforum@gmail.com

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006, October). Essen-tials of doctoral education for advanced practice nurses. Retrieved

While the expansion of doctoral education

through doctor of nursing practice

programs may expand the pool of clinical

faculty, there is no evidence that DNP

graduates are any more likely to enter the

academy on a full time basis than current

master’s degree graduates.

Nursing Forum Volume 45, No. 4, October-December 2010 269

December 28, 2009, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/pdf/Essentials.pdf

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2009a, October).Doctor of nursing practice programs: Frequently asked questions.Retrieved December 28, 2009, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/DNPFAQ.htm

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2009b, December). FY2010 appropriations: Omnibus. Retrieved December 28, 2009, fromhttp://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/pdf/FY2010FundingChart.pdf

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2009c, September).Nursing faculty shortage fact sheet. Retrieved December 28,2009, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/FactSheets/FacultyShortage.htm

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2009d, December).Student enrollment expands at U.S. nursing colleges and universitiesfor the 9th year despite financial challenges and capacity restraints.Retrieved December 28, 2009, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/NewsReleases/2009/StudentEnrollment.html

Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., & Day, L. (2010). Educatingnurses: A call for radical transformation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Butler, K. M. (2010). The DNP graduate as educator. In L. A. Chism(Ed.), The doctor of nursing practice: A guidebook for role developmentand professional issues (pp. 169–193). Boston: Jones and Bartlett.

Fitzpatrick, J. (2008). The #1 cause of the faculty shortage? It’s themoney! Nursing Education Perspectives, 29, 253.

Illinois Center for Nursing. (2009). Financial aid, scholarships andgrants. Retrieved December 29, 2009, from http://nursing.illinois.gov/financial.asp

National League for Nursing. (2005, August). Nursing faculty shortagefact sheet. Retrieved December 28, 2009, from http://www.nln.org/governmentaffairs/pdf/NurseFacultyShortage.pdf

Rollet, J. (2009, December). 2009 national salary & workplace survey.Retrieved December 30, 2009, from http://nurse-practitioners.advanceweb.com/Archives/Article-Archives/2009-National-Salary-Workplace-Survey.aspx

Is the DNP the Answer to the Nursing Faculty Shortage? Not Likely!

270 Nursing Forum Volume 45, No. 4, October-December 2010