Nursing education will have to increase the number of new nurse graduates by 30% a year
over the next decade to meet the growing demand for registered nurses. Building the nursing
education workforce has become imperative. Strategies for recruiting and retaining nurse
faculty have been outlined, but we do not know which are effective. This descriptive study
used a nationwide Internet survey to ask teaching nurse educators what they believe are
effective strategies to increase the number of nurse faculty. More than 2,100 associate degree
in nursing, bachelor of science in nursing, master's, and doctoral nurse educators participated.
Although the majority of the participants were White females age 46 and older, the
proportions of men and minorities in the group younger than 46 years were twice that of the
older group. The respondents said that they became nurse educators to work with students
and to help shape the nursing profession. They identified 11 effective recruitment strategies
and 14 effective strategies in retention. They confirmed that compensation inequities threaten
the future of the profession. They recommended further study in building diversity,
collaborative practice relationships, and salary parity while further evaluating the effectiveness
of recruitment and retention strategies. (Index words: Nurse faculty; Recruitment; Retention;
Nurse educator; Nurse faculty workforce; Nurse faculty shortage)