A Descriptive Investigation of the Nursing Educator Workforce in the United States

Background:

Nurse educators represent a key component of the nursing workforce and typically serve in two critical roles: they train nurses who may one day provide direct patient care or educational services, and they often practice themselves. However, the number of nurse educators is declining as enrollment in master’s and PhD programs slows and as the current set of educators retire and leave the profession.

Purpose:

This descriptive cross-sectional study sought to more closely examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the nurse educator cohort. More specifically, this work sought to understand how the pandemic has affected nurse educators embedded in traditional academic as well as clinical settings.

Methods:

Data from the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey were drawn upon for analysis. Descriptive statistics and generalized logit statistical models were employed.

Results:

Educators in both settings report they were profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, educators in clinical settings were more likely (adjustedOR= 1.41, 95% CI: 1.37–1.44,p <.001) to report an increase in workload when adjusting for race, ethnicity, gender, and years’ experience. Educators who reported specializing in geriatrics (adjustedOR= 3.09, 95% CI: 2.87–3.32,p <.001) and acute/critical care (adjustedOR= 2.89, 95% CI: 2.70–3.08,p <.001) were also more likely to report plans to leave or retire within 5 years relative to educators in medical/surgical specialized positions when controlling for years’ experience, race, ethnicity, and gender. Additionally, 40.2% (n= 2,908) of nurse educators in maternal-child health/obstetrics reported they plan to leave or retire within the next 5 years.

Conclusion:

As the need for nurse educators continues to grow, clinical educators’ unique and acute experiences of emotional exhaustion during the COVID-19 pandemic warrant further consideration. Policymakers, program administrators, and employers must identify and implement methods to improve working conditions to retain and recruit more nurses to education, particularly among those employed in in-demand clinical practice specialty areas. The results of this analysis offer insights into the practice profiles of educators in both clinical and academic settings, as well as how their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic may inform their intent to leave the profession in the years to come.