Nursing scholarship: role of faculty practice

As nursing education has moved into the academic setting, nursing faculty have focused on the traditional components of scholarship in the faculty role: research and publication, teaching, and service. However, dramatic changes have occurred in higher education and health care forcing nursing faculty to reexamine their roles in both systems. A survey was conducted to explore the views held by deans and faculty of colleges of nursing on scholarship and to describe ways in which these views on scholarship reflect faculty practice. Principal findings of this study indicated that nursing deans and faculty view scholarship as the generation, dissemination, application, and advancement of nursing knowledge. The components of scholarship in the nursing faculty role were described as research and publication, teaching, service, faculty practice, and presentations. The strongest theme to emerge from the study was the role conflict and fragmentation experienced by faculty as they tried to balance all the components of scholarship. The topic of faculty practice was considered to be an important issue in nursing, with the majority of nursing faculty involved in faculty practice in environments where it is not accommodated, mandated, or formally expected. The findings of this study suggest that faculty practice roles could be considered a component of scholarship as long as scholarly outcomes are demonstrated.