Transcript Emerging Issues in Health Career Education

Caring for the Future:
Recruiting and Retaining
Health Care Educators
American Association for Community Colleges
Annual Conference
Long Beach, California
April 24, 2006
National Network of Health Career Programs in
Two-Year Colleges
Panel of Presenters
 Pat Harris, RN, MS
District Director of Health Care Education
 Maricopa Community College District
 Barbara R. Jones, PhD,
 Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
 Louisiana Delta Community College, Monroe, LA
 Janell, Lang, EdS
 Dean, Health Technologies Division
 Owens Community College, Toledo, OH
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Presentation Overview
Community Colleges face challenges in
attracting nursing and allied health
faculty and administrators. Recruitment
and retention strategies will be
presented.
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Goals
 To identify challenges to health care faculty
recruitment and retention
 To present health care faculty recruitment and
retention strategies
 To review opportunities for collaboration in
recruitment and retention of health care
faculty
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Oh, the Challenges
We Face
Pat Harris, RN, MS
District Director, Health Care Education
Maricopa Community Colleges
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One minute foundation:
“Just the Facts, Ma’am”
 There’s a significant, long lasting shortage out
there.
 Thousands of qualified applicants are turned
away each year from healthcare professional
educational programs because of capacity
issues.
 Funding for program operations and student
scholarships are more available in the past,
but often times there is a lack of human
capital to secure funding.
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More Brief Facts
 Professional program accreditation
establishes faculty requirements, resource
allocation guidelines
 State or Federal regulatory agencies set
requirements for faculty qualifications and
staffing ratios, particularly in clinical settings
 Health programs are particularly demanding
on faculty (clinical load)
 Health professionals are not as diverse as
general population
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Three Legged Stool of Healthcare
Education
 Faculty
 Shortage in workers, shortage in faculty,
sometimes shortage in flexibility
 Aging population, eagerly anticipating
retirement
 Brain drain—salaries, benefit packages
 Funding
 Lesser issue than before, but still looms
 Facilities
 Clinical space
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Data Dearth
 Nursing has a plethora of data. Forecasting
is challenging, but can be done.
 Allied Health is like a 1,000 piece puzzle. It is
assumed that all the pieces will go together,
but it’s challenging finding sufficient
information on the big picture.
 Some States have excellent data, others do
not. Given the assumption that many models
build upon State data, much is lost.
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What data do we have?
 Health and Human Services, The Registered
Nurse Population: National Sample Survey of
Registered Nurses, March 2004
 Bureau of Labor Statistics
 Various organizations Fact Sheets: AACC,
National League for Nursing, professional
organizations and regulatory boards
 State workforce organization data
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Nursing Faculty
March 2004 National Sample of RNs
 40% of current nursing faculty teach in
associate degree programs
 Average Age is 46.8 years; doctoral prepared
faculty average age is 55.7
 Age breakout of current faculty:
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Highest group is 21% 50-54 years
30% are over 55 years
20% are under 40
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Nursing Faculty
 Fewer graduate nursing students are
choosing to be educators. Practitioner
salaries are more enticing—and physician
shortages are increasing opportunity for
advance practitioners.
 Some Universities adding post-masters
certificate in Education, more needed
 Small percentage (<10%) of nurses and allied
health professionals hold Masters degree or
higher
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Allied Health Faculty
 According to Fact Sheet issued in March
2003 by the Association of Academic Health
Centers, allied health professions account for
approximately 50 % of total US health
workforce.
 In this context, faculty shortages are among
the highest of all health professions and are
projected to increase.
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Allied Health Faculty Vacancies
Association of Academic Health Centers
 Current
 HIM—15.4%
 Dietetics—15.4%
 Radiation Therapy—
12.5%
 CV Perfusion Tech—
10.7%
 Dental Hygiene—9.5%
 Within 5 years
 HIM—30.8%
 Dietetics—28.2%
 Radiation Therapy—
18.8%
 CV Perfusion Tech—
28.6%
 Dental Hygiene—19%
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Regional Influences
 Direct influence on shortages, although the
issues are national, on the most part
 Urban versus rural settings. Easier to recruit
health practitioners from urban medical
centers than from rural facilities. Recruit
young practitioners to be part-time or adjunct,
develop for full time faculty.
 Competitive programs—private colleges,
career schools, and universities
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Bottom Line Logic
 In Allied Health, the number of full time faculty
is sufficiently modest, so that vacancy rates
are irrelevant to the situation: if you have one
vacancy, you have a major problem.
 In most cases, your faculty are being
compensated well below market value. The
satisfaction of educating others is not a
selling point sufficient to match $20 K salary
differences.
 Nine month contracts are mixed blessings.
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STRATEGIES
Recruiting and Retaining
Health Care Educators
Janell Lang, Ed.S.
Dean, School of Health Sciences
Owens Community College
Toledo & Findlay, Ohio
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The “Tipping Point”
 The point at which a crisis can become a
disaster
 One million nursing positions will be open by
2012 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
 As great a need exists in the Allied Health
Professions
 What remains hidden is the lack of qualified
faculty to teach our students
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The Test for Community Colleges:
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How do we recruit and retain qualified nursing
and allied health faculty while not breaking the
bank?
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Special Challenges
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Qualified Faculty Shortages
Escalating Workforce Retirement
Faculty Demanding Higher Salaries
Difficulty Recruiting
High Attrition Rates
Inadequate Resources
Little On-the-Job Training
Lack of Recognition & Appreciation
Higher Workloads & Industry Demand
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Some Solutions
 A Competitive Labor Driven Market
 Effective Orientation Programs for New Full and Part
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Time Faculty
Resource Guides
Professional Development
Tuition Reimbursement Plans
Ability to Maintain Currency in Clinical Area of
Practice
Autonomy/Independence
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More Solutions
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A Mentorship Program
 Optimizes Dwindling Resources
 Utilizes Limited Faculty/Staff
 Shortens Learning Curves
 Supports Career Development
 Seeds Faculty Leadership
 Sets Higher Standards of Practice
 Increases Confidence & Skills
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Benefits of A Mentorship Program
 Optimizes Shared Learning Experiences
 Provides Networking
 Strengthens Leadership Skills
 Fosters Support
 Improves Teamwork
 Increases Job Satisfaction
 Retains Experienced Faculty
 Supports Classroom/Laboratory/Clinical
Learning
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Finally
 “Growing Our Own”
 Foster a sense of commitment in our current
students to return to their roots and give back
to the learning communities in which they
prospered.
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COLLABORATION
Recruiting and Retaining
Health Care Educators
Barbara Jones, PhD
Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
Louisiana Delta Community College
Monroe, LA
[email protected]
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Possible Solutions
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Endowments for faculty positions
Grants
Funding
Job sharing
Recruitment
Flexible scheduling to supplement income
Benefits: time off, tuition waivers, flexible
schedules, sabbaticals
 Collaborations
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Why Collaboration?
 Limited financial resources
 Limited physical resources
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(i.e., space, equipment,
technology)
Limited faculty
Accreditation/regulations
Limited availability of
expertise, established
programs, and resources
Need for strong
community/cooperative
relationships
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Institutional Partnerships and
Collaborations
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Employee/faculty sharing
Sharing of Classroom and Clinical space
Student tuition stipends or reimbursements
Equipment sharing
Grants for program development
Funds for faculty salary or program support
Endowments
Continuing education
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Collaborations
 Develop collaborations at the institutional,
local, state, and federal level to:
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Increase funding/off-set costs
Increase supply of students in the health
career education “pipeline” – grow your own
Participate in development and best practices
research
Increase and improvement of health care
delivery to meet community needs
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Collaborations - Local
 Medical facilities - institutions
Faculty sharing
 Classroom/clinical space
 Distance learning
 Funding for faculty and program development/expansion
 Stipends for students – future employees
 Tuition reimbursement for current employees – job
advancement
 Endowments for faculty
 Equipment Donations
 Medical facilities
 Vendors
 Local AHEC
 Recruitment
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Collaborations - State
 Higher Education: Institution - institution
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Distance Learning – sharing of experienced
faculty
Remote site programs
 Incumbent Worker Training Programs
 Health Care Workforce Boards
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Collaborations - Federal
 National Health Systems (i.e., HCA)
 Workforce Investment
 HRSA - Allied Health Project Grants
 Nursing Reinvestment Act
 Proposed Allied Health Reinvestment Act
(faculty loan program)
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Questions and Answers?
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Contact information
 Pat Harris, RN, MS
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[email protected]
 Barbara R. Jones, PhD,
 [email protected]
 Janell Lang, EdS

[email protected]
National Network of Health Career Programs in
Two-Year Colleges
Caring for the Future:
Recruiting and Retaining
Health Care Educators
American Association for Community Colleges
Annual Conference
Long Beach, California
April 24, 2006
National Network of Health Career Programs in
Two-Year Colleges