Nurse educators and the demands of research

The purpose of this research was to study perceptions of baccalaureate nursing faculty regarding the pressures to publish and conduct research. The research was a nonexperimental, correlational, retrospective study. One hundred baccalaureate nurse educators completed a questionnaire that assessed their beliefs regarding the pressure to publish and their preferences between teaching and research. The majority of participants reported the perception of high to intense pressure to publish, the belief that they could remain current in nursing without a major focus on research, and the belief that the increased emphasis on research diminishes the quality of classroom instruction. The majority of participants would select a teaching-only career track if they could still be promoted and achieve tenure. Recommendations included broadening the definition of research to include the teaching and application of research, and the implementation of two career tracks with promotion and tenure opportunities.