Developing a Succesful Faculty Practice Program at a College of Nursing without a Medical Campus

Developing a Successful Faculty Practice Program at a College of Nursing without a Medical Campus

Current changes in health care reform and the nursing faculty shortage could be positively members affected by the implementation of a faculty practice program in university nursing programs. This poster presentation describes the process of development of such a program.    Development of a faculty practice program was congruent with the university’s mission, vision and values (Lang & Evans, 2004).  The faculty practice program gives College of Nursing faculty members both the opportunity to teach and to provide evidence-based health care to the community.  A goal of the faculty practice program is to contribute to making primary health care, preventative health care and chronic health management services more accessible to the of the surrounding communities, in turn decreasing health care disparities.

The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) 2008 criteria state that the faculty members who teach in the clinical component of the Nurse Practitioner Program must maintain a current practice.  (NONPF, 2008).  Developing a faculty practice program that provides evidence-based practice opportunities for the faculty will provide access for clinical practice as well as provide clinical faculty preceptors for nurse practitioner students.  The faculty will be able to maintain their clinical skills in addition to providing evidence-based quality care to members of the County and surrounding metropolitan areas.  The university is located in the northern part of the County.  According to the 2000 Census the metropolitan area population consists of approximately 2.6 million residents. 

The purpose of this evidenced based poster is to share the process used to begin a viable faculty practice program at a university which is not part of a Medical Campus.  The poster includes the review of models of faculty practice, description of the model selected, and examples of how nursing faculty practice provides an opportunity to support scholarship of practice while providing much needed health care to communities that are neighbors to the university.