Formative Assessment 3: Formulating an argument.

Arisa Jennifer T. Adzuara

Cielito Angeline M. Bently

Vea Flynne E. Franco

Raiza G. Olosan

Danica Vheb T. Solatorio

General Education, Far Eastern University

GED0120: Scholarly Inquiry

Mx. Ricardo R. Villas Jr.

March 05, 2023

 TOPIC: Shortage of Nursing Professors in the Nursing field Worldwide

Problem question: What are the reasons why there is a shortage of professors in the nursing

field?

Claim The salaries for nursing professors may be less competitive than those in

clinical practice. This may discourage nurses from pursuing careers in

academia, especially if they have substantial student loan debt to repay.

Ground Numerous studies and reports have suggested that nursing faculty may

receive lower salaries compared to those in clinical practice, which may

discourage nurses from pursuing academic careers.

Warrant 1 There is a significant salary gap between nursing faculty and clinical

practitioners, as evidenced by reports and studies. For instance, a 2020 report

from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing found that the average

salary for full-time nursing faculty members was $83,629, while the average

salary for full-time nurse practitioners was $109,000 (American Association

of Colleges of Nursing, 2020). Similarly, a 2018 report from the National

Council of State Boards of Nursing found that nurse practitioners who

worked in clinical practice settings earned an average of $113,930 per year,

while nurse educators earned an average of $73,418 per year (National

Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2018).

Backing Financial concerns, including low salaries and student loan debt, have been

identified as common reasons why nursing faculty members leave their

positions or choose not to pursue academic careers, according to a 2019

study published in the Journal of Nursing Education (Hagedorn et al., 2019).

Modality Probable

Rebuttal Nursing faculty may receive other benefits, such as job security and flexible

work schedules, that may offset the lower salaries. However, the evidence

suggests that financial concerns are still a significant factor in the shortage of

nursing faculty, as noted by the Commission on Higher Education in the

Philippines (Commission on Higher Education, 2021).

Backing While there may be other benefits to working as a nursing faculty member,

financial concerns are still a major factor in the shortage of nursing faculty,

as identified by various reports and studies.

References American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2020). Salaries of

instructional and administrative nursing faculty in baccalaureate and

graduate programs in nursing.

https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-Sheets/Salaries-

of-Instructional-and-Administrative-Nursing-Faculty

Commission on Higher Education. (2021). Report on the State of Philippine

Nursing Education: Responding to the Challenges of the Future.

https://ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CHED-State-of-

Philippine-Nursing-Education-2021.pdf

Hagedorn, S., et al. (2019). Financial concerns and intentions to leave: A

survey of nursing faculty. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(9), 542-

546. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20190820-06

National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2018). 2018 nurse faculty and
 program survey executive summary.

https://www.ncsbn.org/2018NurseFacultyProgramSurveyReport-

ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Problem question: What are the implications of shortage of nursing professors on the
nursing program?
Claim There is a shortage of nursing professors that has significant implications on

the nursing program.

Ground Given the shortage of nursing professors, nursing schools are still turning

down thousands of qualified applicants who met the requirements for

admission to the nursing program (Grainger, 2021).

Warrant 2 Experienced faculty members are usually needed in the development

mission, vision, goals, objectives, curriculum and instruction of a nursing

program (Appiah, 2020).

Backing According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), just

over thousands of qualified applicants were turned away from nursing

programs in 2018 due to lack of an insufficient number of professors. That’s

thousands of potential nurses who could have potentially served hundreds of

thousands more patients.

Modality Probable
Rebuttal Several qualified applicants are reportedly unable to enroll in nursing schools

around the nation due to a shortage of nurse professors. Lack of nurse

educators with doctoral degrees to fill the open jobs is one of the main causes

of the nurse faculty shortage (Shaw, n.d.).

Backing There is a distinct lack of nursing professors in the field. A significant issue
 contributing to the general shortage of nursing personnel is the fall in the

number of nursing professors with doctoral degrees.

References Appiah, J. (2020). Exploring the Role of Experienced Faculty in the

Development of Nursing Programs. Journal of Nursing Education

and Practice, 10(3), 41-46. DOI: 10.5430/jnep.v10n3p41

Grainger, C. (2021). Nursing Schools Rejecting Thousands of Qualified

Applicants. U.S. News & World Report.

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2021-

03-11/nursing-schools-rejecting-thousands-of-qualified-applicants

Shaw, B. (n.d.). The Nursing Faculty Shortage: Challenges and Solutions.

Minority Nurse. https://minoritynurse.com/the-nursing-faculty-

shortage-challenges-and-solutions/

Problem question: What are the effects of resulting implications of shortage of nursing

professors in the quality of healthcare?

Claim The quality of healthcare is poor due to the shortage of nursing professors.

Ground The lack of nursing professors fuels a vicious cycle. Less nursing students are

able to graduate as a result of the faculty deficit, which adds to the scarcity of

both faculty and traditional nurses. According to Kluwer, (n.d.) this results to,

“higher patient acuity, combined with fewer nurses at the bedside, has turned

nurse–patient ratios upside down. And the reality is that not only nurses are

leaving the bedside; unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) have been leaving

their hospital roles, too, thereby increasing the registered nurse (RN)
 workload.”

Warrant 3 The ongoing nursing faculty shortage across the nation, the burden nurses

encounter in hospitals and other clinical settings, and the standard of care

patients receive are all significantly impacted by this shortage. “In my

experience, for every 3% to 4% vacancy in nursing positions, there’s a 20% to

25% increase in overtime hours required by the current nursing staff. “It’s not

like you can decrease patient numbers when your hospital doesn’t have

enough nurses, so burnout, stress, and turnover rates tend to rise. Nurses end

up needing to triage patients’ needs, which can increase the risk of

readmission, hospital-acquired infections, and patient mortality” (McWirth,

n.d.).

Backing The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) estimates that in

2018, just over 75,000 competent applicants were denied admission to

nursing schools, largely as a result of a lack of faculty. These 75,000 potential

nurses could have provided care for hundreds of thousands more patients.

Without any adequate nursing staff, clinical units are overworked and often

face burnout. Patient care is adversely affected, and the entire healthcare

system faces a negative ripple effect (Meinke, 2020).

Modality It is probable that the quality of healthcare will be poor due to the shortage of

nursing professors.

Rebuttal One of the main reasons nursing schools reject competent applicants is a lack

of nursing faculty. If this issue is not immediately resolved, the developing

nurse faculty deficit will have a significant impact on the nursing shortage
 and ultimately have an impact on patient outcomes (Gerolamo & Roemer,

2011).

Backing In addition to the obligations and responsibilities shared by all academic staff,

nursing faculty are expected to train students in clinical settings, participate in

clinical practice, and maintain clinical expertise, according to the American

Association of Colleges of Nursing (n.d.).

References Gerolamo, A. M., & Roemer, G. F. (2011). Workload and the nurse faculty

shortage: Implications for policy and research. Nursing Outlook,

59(5), 259-265.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2011.01.002

Meinke, H. M. (2020, February 24). Understanding the Nurse Educator

Shortage and Its Implications. Rasmussen University.

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/blog/nurse-educator-

shortage/

Walden University. (2022, November 8). Can the National Nursing Faculty

Shortage be Solved? https://www.waldenu.edu/news-and-

events/publications/articles/2018/01-can-the-national-nursing-faculty-

shortage-be-solved

Problem question: What do the institutions do to help aid the shortage and its effects on

nursing students?

Claim The institutions aid the shortage of nursing to prevent its effect on the

nursing students.
Ground The nursing profession faces a substantial workforce crisis due to the

alarming rate of nurse turnover and an inability to recruit and train

replacements in large enough numbers to make up for the losses. (Kiel, 2020)

Warrant 4 To facilitate the integration of the OB/HR and nursing literature, we propose

a nurse workforce crisis model that offers a contextually specific framework

to aid future scholarship as well as several points of entry for future research.

Lowman and Harms (2022)

Backing According to Taylor-Clark et al. (2022) intention to leave is a precursor of

nurse turnover. The reasons nurses intend to leave may be influenced by

leader interventions and potentially preventable.

Modality Probable that institutions will aid the shortage crisis and prevent the negative

effect on nursing students.

Rebuttal The institutions were not able to continuously solve the crisis and create

sustainable plans which alleviate nursing faculty shortage. Moreover, there is

a lack of attention to the needs of nursing educators, resulting in these

negative effects on nursing students.

According to McWirth (n.d), “Many people probably don’t think that this

shortage of nurses stems from a shortage of nursing educators, but that’s

exactly the problem. And it touches everyone who could potentially need

medical care”.

Backing It is evident that institutions have concrete plans in aiding the crisis of

shortage. Different strategies were implemented to address the needs of the

issue this for with decreases the negative effect for the nursing industry.
References Boamah, S. A., Callen, M., & Cruz, E. (2021). Nursing faculty shortage in

Canada: A scoping review of contributing factors. Nursing Outlook,

69(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.01.018

Kiel, J. (2020), “An analysis of restructuring orientation to enhance nurse

retention”, The Health Care Manager, 39, 162-167.

Lowman, G. H., & Harms, P. D. (2022). Editorial: Addressing the nurse

workforce crisis: a call for greater integration of the organizational

behavior, human resource management and nursing literatures.

Journal of Managerial Psychology, 37(3), 294–303.

https://doi.org/10.1108/jmp-04-2022-713

Taylor-Clark, T. M., Swiger, P. A., Anusiewicz, C. V., Loan, L. A., Olds, D.

M., Breckenridge-Sproat, S., Raju, D., & Patrician, P. A. (2022).

Identifying Potentially Preventable Reasons Nurses Intend to Leave a

Job. Journal of Nursing Administration, 52(2), 73–80.

https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000001106