Workload and the nurse faculty shortage: implications for policy and research

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Academic Workload Studies
• Health Workforce Research

Background:

• A significant nurse faculty shortage exists, impacting nursing education and the future nursing workforce.
• It is hypothesized that heavy and inequitable workload contributes to this shortage.
• Current evidence does not definitively support or refute the inequity of nurse faculty workload compared to other academic disciplines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize existing knowledge on nurse faculty workload and its connection to the nursing faculty shortage.
• To evaluate the evidence regarding the equity of nurse faculty workload relative to other academic disciplines.
• To propose policy and research directions for addressing workload issues and the faculty shortage.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted across multiple databases (Science Direct, Medline, CINAHL, HealthSTAR) and the web.
• Keywords included combinations of "nurse faculty," "workload," "academia," and "equity."
• The review focused on identifying studies examining nurse faculty workload and its comparative equity.

Main Results:

• Existing research on nurse faculty workload is predominantly limited to single institutions or specific regions.
• There is a notable absence of comparative studies examining nurse faculty workload against that of faculty in other academic disciplines.
• The hypothesis of workload inequity between nurse faculty and other disciplines remains largely unsupported by empirical evidence.

Conclusions:

• The current body of evidence is insufficient to confirm or deny workload inequity in nursing academia.
• Comparative workload studies are essential to validate the inequity hypothesis and inform targeted interventions.
• A systematic analysis of nurse faculty workload is crucial for prioritizing strategies to alleviate the nursing faculty shortage.