Rounds with Leadership: Seeking Solutions to the Faculty Shortage

At AACN’s Academic Nursing Leadership Conference held earlier this month, attendees were asked to identify issues of top concern to be addressed during the Rounds with AACN Leadership session. Overwhelmingly, the top issue by far was Faculty Recruitment and Retention.

For nearly two decades, AACN has worked to quantify the shortage of nurse educators and its impact on pathways into the profession and nursing school enrollments.  Released on October 3, AACN’s most recent survey of faculty vacancies in schools with baccalaureate and higher degree programs found a national vacancy of 7.9%, up slightly from 7.8% last year. This finding translates into 1,693 open positions or 3-4 vacancies in all schools seeking faculty. The survey also uncovered some regional differences with the highest vacancy rate in the West (9.8%) and lowest in the Midwest (5.6%). Schools in the Northeast (7.8%) and the South (8.6%) also are struggling to fill teaching positions.

When asked what the biggest challenges were recruiting needed faculty, schools once again pointed to noncompetitive salaries, a shortage of faculty with the necessary teaching experience, and finding faculty with the right specialty mix. The nation’s limited pool of doctoral-prepared nurses presents an additional hurdle since 84% of all open positions either require or prefer faculty with a terminal degree.

With new evidence that the faculty shortage persists, what can we do to address this ongoing concern? At the recent AACN conference, we heard from like schools of all sizes about what strategies they are using to recruit and retain faculty, as well as ways to reduce burnout, elevate job satisfaction, and promote professional growth. Work underway in this area includes:

• Increasing faculty salaries through joint appointments with practice partners.
• Making the case for pay equity based on comparisons with similar institutions (see AACN’s state-level reports).
• Advocating state legislators for salary stipends and tax incentives for those teaching in schools of nursing.
• “Growing your own” faculty by preparing graduate students for teaching roles.
• Focusing on faculty mentoring, succession planning, and leadership development to encourage professional growth and advancement (see AACN LEADS).
• Offering free tuition or discounts to faculty pursuing doctoral degrees.
• Incentivizing part-time faculty to pursue full-time teaching roles.
• Providing professional development to prepare faculty as subject matter experts.
• Examining faculty workload and role expectations to reduce burnout, exhaustion, and stress.

On behalf of our member schools, AACN has made addressing the faculty shortage a top priority. Through our conference and webinar programming, we are committed to highlighting faculty recruitment strategies that produce results. We are currently accepting registrations for an upcoming webinar on November 19 from 1:00-2:00 pm (ET) titled Envisioning Students as Future Nurse Faculty. Registration is free an open to all member faculty, deans, and students. Further, in our work with the newly reconstituted AACN/AONL Academic-Practice Advisory Committee, we have begun conversations on increasing the nurse faculty population to ensure that we are preparing enough nurses to meet workforce demands. As part of our information curation efforts, we will continue to share the latest reports and articles focused on faculty recruitment and the educator role (see References and Resources below).

On Capitol Hill, AACN staff work closely with legislators to raise awareness about the close connection between strengthening our faculty ranks and addressing the nation’s nursing shortage.  In addition to calling for higher levels of federal funding for graduate nursing education, AACN is advocating for new legislation, including the Federal Advancement of Academic Nursing (FAAN) Act, which was introduced by Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14) and colleagues to provide support for expanding enrollment in nursing programs and recruit more faculty, and the Nurse Faculty Shortage Reduction Act, which would provide salary supplements to recruit and retain more faculty.

We encourage all schools to let us know what’s working when it comes to faculty recruitment and retention. AACN’s online discussion community – AACN Connect – provides an ideal venue for members to share strategies, ask questions, and provide expert insights into addressing this issue.  We also encourage members to take advantage of networking opportunities available at our upcoming conferences, including Transform 2024 in New Orleans and the Doctoral Education Conference in San Diego, to dialogue about faculty issues and needs. Together, we can work to ensure that the nation’s population of nurse educators is healthy and thriving.

References and Resources

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2024). Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions for Academic Year 2024-2025.

Anderson, M., Taylor, N., Rowley, T. et al. (July/August 2024). Understanding factors influencing nursing faculty departure and intentions. Nurse Educator, 49(4), 222-226. | DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000001612

Bond, C. & Jackson, D. (October 2024). Revisiting the nursing academic workforce shortage: Where to from here? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1-3. | https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16499

Fang, D., Zangaro, G., & Kesten, K. (March-April 2024). Assessment of nursing faculty retirement projections. Nursing Outlook, 72(2), 2102135. | DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102135

Pierce, R., Flinn, L., Herman, M., & Lucia, R. (September 24, 2024). Compassion fatigue in nurse educators. Faculty Focus.