The nurse faculty shortage in the United States is predicted to worsen as up to one-third of the current faculty workforce retire by 2025.1 An estimated 89.7% of current faculty vacancies are positions that require a doctoral degree.1 While the number of nurses who hold doctoral degrees has increased in the last 10 years, the majority hold a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree-a clinical doctorate. DNP prepared nurses are choosing academia as a career in increasing numbers.2 Some universities provide a clinical or teaching track (nontenured) as an avenue for promotion and job security; however, others only offer the traditional tenure and promotion track. The traditional tenure and promotion track requires candidates to meet criteria within a specified time period or risk losing their academic appointment. While DNP faculty are clinical experts, many are not adequately prepared for the rigorous demands of the tenure and promotion process, which can result in frustration, low job satisfaction, and increased stress related to balancing teaching and scholarship.3 Mastering scholarly writing and the publication process takes time. Supporting and retaining DNP faculty in academia are critical to meeting future nursing workforce demands. This article describes a targeted initiative to develop research and scholarship competency in new DNP faculty in order for them to meet criteria for tenure and promotion.

Setting

The school of nursing (SON) in which this initiative took place is in a comprehensive university with an approximate enrollment of 10 500 students. The school offers bachelor of science in nursing (entry-level and completion), master of science in nursing, and DNP degrees; has an enrollment of 240 undergraduate and 150 graduate students; and has 25 full-time faculty members. Since 2016, 7 DNP faculty members (28% of the faculty) were hired into tenure track as assistant professors. Tenure track in the SON follows a traditional model requiring research funding and publishing for tenure and promotion. Previous efforts to create a comparable clinical track, while supported within the SON, were unsuccessful at the university level. However, the SON was successful in getting the clinical doctorate recognized and having DNP faculty appointed to the tenure track. The SON recognized that retaining faculty would be critical to the continued success of its degree programs.

Initiative

A new director of the SON committed resources and support for new faculty, by initially appointing a PhD tenured faculty member to the position of Research and Scholarship Coordinator (RSC). The RSC was created as an administrative appointment with 25% release time each semester to facilitate scholarly activities and mentor junior faculty-particularly DNP faculty on tenure track. Funding was provided for the RSC to attend a writing intensive workshop and a leadership academy with mentorship training. The RSC responsibilities include orienting all new tenure track faculty members to the tenure and promotion process, conducting one-on-one meetings for scholarship planning, assisting in development of research projects, evaluation of scholarly productivity, and dissemination planning. In addition, the RSC serves on the Research and Professional Practice Council of a local hospital and facilitates evidence-based practice projects through partnerships between academic faculty and hospital clinicians. Mentoring is also provided by SON tenured faculty.

To recognize the unique scholarly contributions of DNP prepared faculty, SON tenured faculty led efforts to review and revise tenure and promotion criteria to reflect research and clinical scholarly activities according to Boyer's Model of Scholarship.4 In addition, the director of the SON committed to 12.5% release time for tenure track faculty each semester to support scholarship-related activities and secured outside funding from a local hospital to assist faculty with development and scholarship dissemination travel.

Part of the initiative was to increase the DNP faculty skill with the writing and publishing process. One area that new DNP faculty consistently cited as a challenge was their limited preparation and experience in scholarly writing. In 2019, the RSC secured grant funding to support a 2-day writing intensive workshop for tenure track faculty. An experienced writer/editor led the workshop, presenting material covering journal selection, inquiry letters, transforming an idea into a publishable article, and assistance with actual article writing. Also, the workshop presenter continued mentoring faculty until manuscripts were completed. Of the 7 new faculty members who attended the workshop, 3 had articles published shortly thereafter. Others continue to develop their ideas and manuscripts.

Outcomes and Recommendations

As a result of the targeted initiative, nearly all of the DNP tenure track faculty members have successfully completed their mid-tenure review or are also on track to progress. Overall, targeted and intentional interventions to support DNP tenure track faculty have been successful. However, the traditional requirements of tenure and promotion continue to be a challenge. In addition, DNP faculty who are also certified nurse practitioners often practice clinically. This additional responsibility impacts faculty time in pursuing scholarly endeavors. By scheduling allotted time for scholarship development, DNP faculty were able to continue to focus on tenure and promotion completion. Although scholarly productivity among DNP faculty members increased, an unexpected benefit of the initiative included increased scholarly productivity among all SON faculty members.

Nursing programs across the country are facing a serious faculty shortage, and DNP prepared nurses are stepping up to help address the need. These experienced clinicians serve a critical role in the preparation and education of the future nursing workforce. Although this targeted initiative has helped with faculty retention, future plans include the creation of a promotion track for those with clinical doctorates. Despite the fact that a clinical track is not a novel idea, many universities that employ DNP faculty do not yet offer that option. A clinical track with comparable criteria of teaching, scholarship, practice, and service without the time limit of a traditional tenure and promotion track would help maintain rigor of promotion requirements while ensuring that we meet future nursing workforce demands.

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