Identifying Barriers and Facilitators to Future Nurse Faculty Careers for DNP Students

Increasing the pool of doctorally educated nurses pursuing faculty careers is imperative in the development of the nurse faculty workforce. This cross-sectional study aims to identify barriers and facilitators to academic careers for doctor of nursing practice (DNP) students. One thousand five hundred DNP students were randomly selected from nursing schools across the country to participate in our survey, and a 56.9% response rate was achieved. The study found that 32% of respondents planned to pursue faculty careers after graduating. Students with postgraduation plans for academic careers, nonacademic careers, and undecided careers did not show distinct differences in demographic and academic characteristics, except that students who planned to pursue academic careers were more likely to have full-time and part-time faculty status. However, students in the 3 groups perceived facilitators and barriers to academic careers differently. The most influential facilitators were interest in teaching and an appreciation of the impact of nursing research on patient care, and the most considered barriers were poor financial compensation and a negative perception of academia. In terms of academic preparation, a large percentage of DNP students who planned to pursue a faculty career reported that they were not confident in teaching informatics. These findings are also consistent for DNP students who were not a faculty member. The impact of DNP education appeared to have a small, although positive, impact on students' decisions to pursue academic careers.