EIN Project Findings
EIN is pleased to introduce its various cohorts of grantees. Twelve grants (of up to $300,000 each) have been awarded since 2009. EIN’s first grant cycle (2009-2011) provided funding for four innovators in nursing education to support evaluations of different interventions, including Dedicated Education Units (DEUs); a technology-rich, accelerated BSN program relying on a mix of on-campus and offsite training, specially prepared clinical preceptors, and innovative course scheduling; and incorporation of a web-based virtual community into the curricula of several nursing programs across the country. For its second round of grants (2010-2012), EIN has funded evaluations of the implementation of a statewide education consortium curriculum; the substitution of clinical simulation for supervised hospital rotations; and an analysis of a myriad of state-based, support-for-service programs which offer funding support to nursing students who wish to become nurse faculty.
In mid July 2012, EIN’s third cycle of grantees began evaluation projects whose findings will directly inform strategies to prepare faculty to educate nurses for roles in the reformed health care system as envisioned in the IOM report on the future of nursing. These two-year projects (2012-2014) will focus on a range of issues, e.g., identifying barriers and opportunities for doctoral students regarding nurse faculty careers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing); assessing the various stages of career decision-making related to becoming a nurse faculty member (Indiana University); the hiring practices and intentions of directors of nursing programs related to DNP and PhD-prepared faculty (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill); the relationship between the demands of teaching doctoral students and research productivity among doctorally-prepared nurse faculty (Villanova University) and a case study to study and generate insights into the prospects for early-entry doctoral programs (admitting pre-baccalaureate students and recent graduates) to increase the number and productivity of future nurse faculty (University of Wisconsin-Madison). As with earlier funding cycles, EIN3 research projects are designed to generate findings to inform strategies for addressing the nurse faculty shortage, while expanding the nurse workforce and maintaining or improving student outcomes.
RWJF-EIN grantees are part of a learning community with EIN colleagues who share the goals of conducting evaluations, generating evidence and disseminating findings to promote interventions that expand teaching capacity and promote faculty recruitment and retention in nursing education.
