Innovations: Nursing Science, Education, Practice - University of ...

“ Two of the greatest
challenges facing all
health professions are to
educate professionals to
provide culturally sensitive
care and to enhance
the representation of
m i n o r i t i e s .”
— LI N D A BR O W N
Maureen McCausland: As an employer,
several issues present serious concern
to me. One is the decrease in bacc
a l a u reate enrollment and the alarming
growth of associate degrees. If you
look at it simply from a salary and
wage perspective, the two levels
receive essentially the same compensation,
but the levels of knowledge are
quite diff e rent. The need for baccalaureate
nurses is becoming more critical
e v e ry day. The shortage we are facing
is diff e rent from any of the others in
the past. Tr a d i t i o n a l l y, we have met
s h o rtages by re c ruiting more people
into nursing for a basic education program.
But that answer won’t work
this time. We will have an enorm o u s
number of people, the Baby Boom
generation, retiring soon. This will
leave many openings in nursing, and,
as the Baby Boomers grow older and
re q u i re more care, the need for nurses
will explode. The next generations just
d o n ’t have numbers large enough to
workforce earlier and for a longer
period of time. Also important is to
support doctoral students to enable
full-time study.
Joyce Thompson: The content of doctoral
study also needs to change. PhD
p rograms are n ’t necessarily pre p a r i n g
students to take a faculty role. Nursing
schools need to assume a dual commitment
to the re s e a rch and teaching
components of doctoral pro g r a m s .
U ntil now, many people operated
under the assumption that having a
PhD meant a person could teach. Penn
is leading the way with a new doctoral
c u rriculum that recognizes nursing
schools need experienced faculty who
also are very astute and exquisite
scholars. Students receive opport u n i-
ties to expand skills they need to pursue
the directions they choose.
Norma Lang: Another issue rarely discussed
involves public policy and the
Linda Brown,
PhD, FAAN, RN
extend access to health care — q u a l i t y
health care — to everyone.
Linda Brown: It is well known that
the face of America is changing in
many significant ways, particularly as
it relates to ethnicity. Two of the
greatest challenges facing all health
professions are to educate professionals
to provide culturally sensitive
care and to enhance the representation
of minorities, including men, in
nursing. This representation needs to
take place at all levels of the professions,
from novice to seasoned practitioner/leader.
meet the need, and basic education
w o n ’t be enough. This is a frightening
and very serious situation, and I agre e
with Joyce Thompson: it comes back
to imaging and marketing.
Another question: who is going to
teach this next generation? The
retirements also will leave nursing
faculties depleted. How quickly can
we get people through the PhD program
to replenish the faculty?
Norma Lang: I suggest that students
need to enter and graduate from doctoral
programs at a much younger
age. This will add to the faculty
finances for the important work
nurses undertake. In the past, our
health system has placed much more
emphasis on funding biomedical
interventions, which produce highly
visible and dramatic results. The
benefits of health promotion might
not become clear for 20 years; promotion
just doesn’t get the same
public priority, the same financial
support as biomedical interventions.
We need to educate students about
that. They need to lobby to focus
national attention on health promotion,
and they need to understand
what society will finance to keep
14 P e n n N u r s i n g