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Abstract
The United States is in the midst of a nursing shortage and one that is projected to worsen over the next decade. Multiple causative factors have been identified including aging of staff nurses, decreased availability of clinical teaching space, salary differences between the educator role and private clinical practice, issues with recruitment and retention of qualified nursing faculty, and retirement of current nursing faculty. In this pragmatic mixed methods study, nursing faculty at two-year and four-year institutions in the state of Georgia participated in a survey and follow-up interviews that analyzed their perspectives on career satisfaction, specifically in the areas of teaching assignments, organizational support, and adequate credit for work performed. A career satisfaction survey from 64 respondents yielded a statistically significant negative correlation between tenure and rank and job satisfaction, finding a decrease in satisfaction as tenure and rank increase. Findings from semi-structured interviews enhanced the analysis of survey results and interview participants reported a wide range of hourly weekly workloads for didactic and clinical teaching. In addition, time commitments for other requirements such as committee membership and student advisement consistently added to their workload. Overall, respondents enjoyed teaching in both the classroom and clinical settings, but felt that the amount of time required in each area was not accurately acknowledged by their organizational leaders. Findings of this study will aid in the discussion of recruitment and retention strategic planning activities for nursing academic and institutional administrators.