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Dr. Helen O'Shea (second from left) led the first Emory Summer Nursing Teaching Institute, including Pamela McQuide, Patrick Dreher, Nancy Coleman and Lynn Sibley who are now certified to teach at any collegiate school of nursing. Photo credit: Kay Hinton, Emory University
| Emory Addresses Nursing Faculty Shortage Through Summer Teaching Institute
For nurse Debra Griffin Stevens, the decision to become a nurse educator was simple - to work with the next generation of nurses to help elevate the profession. Stevens, a department director for the mother-baby suites at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, is a graduate of the Summer Nursing Teaching Institute at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.
"It is my heartfelt desire to take the nursing profession to the next dimension of excellence," said Stevens, RN, MSN, who previously taught the professional development course in management at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.
A shortage of nursing faculty is compounding the nation's severe nursing shortage. By 2012, the country will be short more than one million nurses, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Even though enrollment at nursing schools increased by a rate of 13 percent in 2005, qualified nursing students are being turned away in record numbers because there are not enough faculty to teach them. Last year 32,000 students were denied entry into nursing schools.
To address the faculty shortage, Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing took an innovative approach by starting the Emory Summer Nursing Teaching Institute, a post-master's certificate program. The program, now in its third year, offers nurses with master's degrees a fast-track program to become skilled educators.
The course, created and directed by Professor Emeritus Helen O'Shea, RN, PhD, is held in workshop format for two weeks in June, followed by online activities and assignments until August 1. Program participants then conclude with a preceptorship at their employing agency or institution from September to December.
"Faculty in nursing programs are a special breed of nurse," said O'Shea. "Our fast-track program is designed to help these expert clinicians develop the essential skills needed to become skilled instructors."
Upon completion of the program, participants earn 12 graduate level academic credits (nine semester hours in the summer and three semester hours in the fall).
"The teaching institute exceeded my expectations," added Stevens. "I was taught principles of teaching and teaching theory, instructed on emerging trends, and learned how to stay current with educational reforms and changes in the nursing profession. Today and forever, I am a dedicated nurse educator."
Since its inception, the Institute has graduated 19 nurses who are now teaching at nursing schools and on clinical rotations in Atlanta, as well as other cities throughout the nation.
For additional information on the Emory Summer Nursing Teaching Institute, contact the Office of Admissions at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at 404-727-7980 or via email at admit@nursing.emory.edu.
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