Financial Assistance for New Clinical Faculty Initiative
This initiative provides financial assistance to nurses with baccalaureate degrees to receive additional education, leading to graduate degrees. The goal of the initiative is to create future clinical faculty to expand the capacity of area nursing educational institutions.
The ability to sustain the regional clinical faculty/nurse expansion initiative is dependent upon our ability to attract and retain clinical faculty.
The use of bedside nurses to serve as adjunct clinical faculty eliminates one significant barrier — the pay differences between practicing nurses and nurse educators (bedside nurses are paid 25 to 30 percent more than educators).
The other barrier is a state licensure requirement for nurse educators, which requires a master’s degree.
Based on feedback from area nursing schools, approximately one-third of the existing nursing faculty in the Kansas City region will retire within the next five years — jeopardizing the progress of the clinical faculty/nurse expansion initiative.
Opportunity
- The Missouri State Board of Nursing provided a five-year demonstration project to permit BSNs (who are actively pursuing their master’s degree) to serve as clinical faculty.
- The Clinical Faculty Academy will expose a number of BSNs to the rewards of teaching the next generation of nurses.
- Area hospitals have existing tuition assistance programs for current employees.
- Financial assistance for cost-of-living expenses would permit BSNs to accelerate completion of their postgraduate degree while continuing to work part-time.
- The financial assistance application process will be structured to prioritize funding for BSNs to pursue their MSN degree (including a commitment to serving as clinical faculty upon graduation).
- The application process would also allow MSNs (who have never taught in a nursing school) to pursue a Ph.D if they commit to serve as didactic educational faculty or clinical faculty upon graduation.
- Priority would be given to applicants who receive tuition assistance from their hospital employer.
Overall Goal:
- To increase the number of clinical faculty in the region to sustain the recently expanded nursing school enrollment by providing cost-of-living assistance (through the local public workforce system) for baccalaureate-prepared bedside nurses to pursue a postgraduate degree in order to serve as clinical faculty.