Describing Nurse Faculty Workload Issues

Identifying and Describing Nurse Faculty Workload Issues Name Institutional Affiliation Identifying and Describing Nurse Faculty Workload Issues Demand for nursing services has increased in the recent past driven by an aging population and increased instances of chronic diseases due to the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, there is a shortage in the nursing faculty, resulting into the increased workload. If this is not addressed in the face of increasing demand, the situation is bound to get out of hand in the future. Therefore, there is a need to stabilize the faculty to avoid further shortages. This has led to various studies into the issues of recruitment, faculty development, and retention of nurses. A 2017 study sought to address factors that contribute to a shortage in the nursing faculty. A survey was used to analyze the workload in the faculty as well as the effect of retirement and retention. A total of 741 nursing schools were involved in the survey. The survey identified 1328 vacancies. The study found out that the nursing faculty was increasingly aging and non-diverse. 32% of all the respondents were 60 years or older. 96% of the respondents were female while 95% were white. This shows the lack of diversity in the nursing faculty. The workload was also found to be increasing, though there were no standard means of establishing the workload. 51% of the respondents felt that the workload increase was a factor they attributed to a shortage in the nursing faculty (Bittner & Bechtel, 2017). An increase in workload coupled with the increased age of entry into the profession is bound to make the filling of faculty vacancies harder in the future. Besides, the fact that the current faculty positions are out of alignment with the demands of the community forces nurses to take up multiple positions, leading to dissatisfaction. In the light of these implications, the study noted the need to address various issues in the nursing faculty in order to avoid future shortages. There is a need to come up with strategies aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of the nursing faculty. Such strategies should include addressing the salary challenges. The strategies should also attract younger nurses into the profession and strive to stem out the loss of expertise through retirement and turnover. Programs to attract a diverse faculty must also be put in place. Models for collaborative positions also need to be created to establish and define individual roles. Mechanisms for calculating workload should also be designed to clearly define the workload at the different levels (Bittner & Bechtel, 2017). Nursing practice is one of the most diverse and dynamic fields of health care. This makes the study of utmost importance in the planning and preparation for the future changes in the practice. The heavy workload for nurses is a reality that has...