NEWS

UNC School of Nursing offers 3 options to address nursing educator shortages

By LATOYA WILLS
UNC School of Nursing

CHAPEL HILL -- A growing shortage of nurse educators across the country is resulting in qualified applicants being turned away from nursing schools – a serious problem, as some estimates have the nation facing a 30 percent shortage of nurses by 2020.

In an effort to address this issue, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing has created three educational options to give nurses the tools they need to effectively teach in clinical and academic settings no matter their previous teaching experience.

The options include a master of science degree in nursing health-care systems education, a post-master of science degree in nursing health-care systems education and a certificate in nursing education.

"These innovative programs were created to integrate knowledge and skills in nursing with education and prepare future nurse educators who understand how educational theory, curriculum development, evaluation strategies and the use of technology apply to nursing," said Dr. Cheryl Jones, health-care systems program coordinator and associate nursing professor. "We believe these options will prepare students to fill important educational roles in academic, staff development or patient care arenas."

Both the master’s and post-master’s degree programs provide in-depth concepts of educational theory and practice.

The master of science degree includes 40 credit hours of coursework and an intensive residency in a related educational or practice site with experienced nurse educators.

The post-MSN program is targeted at nurses who already hold master’s degrees and want to gain advanced knowledge and skills in nursing education. It consists of 15 credit hours of coursework and includes an intensive residency.

The MSN and post-MSN courses are offered full time or part time in classrooms and through Web-enhanced technologies.

The certificate in nursing education is a continuing education program made up of two four-day institutes on basic and advanced principles in teaching, two focused teaching workshops and a final education project. There are no prerequisites for the program, and students can earn the certificate in between one and two years.

Information about the MSN option is available by clicking on http://nursing.unc.edu/degree/ms_hcs.html. Information about the post-MSN option is available at http://nursing.unc.edu/degree/pm_hcs.html. To learn more about the certificate option, click on http://nursing.unc.edu/lifelong/nursing_ed_cert.html

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School of Nursing contact: Sunny Smith Nelson, (919) 966-1412