11: REPORT ON A NATIONAL STUDY OF DOCTORAL NURSING FACULTY ■ 269NURSING FACULTY IN DOCTORAL EDUCATION
As in 2012, this section of the survey consisted of multiple- choice questions intended to
illustrate the participants’ perception related to the availability of adequately qualified
nursing faculty and nurse scientists for the future. To the question, “Do you think there
is going to be an adequate supply of nursing faculty qualified to teach in DNP programs
in the next 5 years?” almost equal number of respondents in the current survey stated
“Yes” ( N = 290, 38%) and “No” ( N = 296, 39%) while in 2012, half the respondents had
selected “No” ( N = 304, 50%). This decline from 50% to 39% likely indicates the increase
in number of DNP programs, and this program expansion could not have taken place
without an adequate supply of faculty to teach DNP courses. To the next question, “Do
you think there is going to be an adequate supply of nurse scientists to replace the retir-
ing nurse scientists in the next 5 years?” responses in the current survey were similar to
the one in 2012, wherein the majority of respondents selected “No” ( N = 468, 61%) just
as they had done in 2012 ( N = 406, 65%). This finding indicates that this is a very pro-
tracted problem that could likely worsen in the near future with the reported stagnant
PhD enrollments and graduates (Fang et al., 2016).
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH AND WORK SATISFACTION
This section of the survey aimed to understand the academic and administrative aspira-
tions of the faculty teaching in doctoral programs. Again, the same questions that were
asked in 2012 were also asked in the current survey. The first question we asked related
to work satisfaction was “How satisfied are you with your current faculty position?” To
this, majority had responded as “very satisfied” ( N = 331, 54%) in 2012; however, there
was a slight drop in percentage in the current survey results with less than half ( N = 345,
45%) indicating as feeling “very satisfied.” We consider this decline, if not statistically
significant, at least an impactful finding. Satisfaction is likely very closely tied to salary
and this will be analyzed in the next section.
This question was followed by “Rank 1– 5 the following items in order of priority (#1
is the most important to you) if you could request them to improve your faculty work life.”
From the 2012 study, the weighted scores indicated that “higher salary” was the topmost
priority (29%), followed by “internal resources for scholarships” (23%), “reduced teaching
load” (21%), “improved climate for intellectual discourse” (16%), and “higher quality stu-
dents” (11%; see Figure 11.5). From 2012 to 2016 (Figures 11.5 and 11.6), the fourth and fifth
rated items from 2012 (“Improved Climate for Intellectual Discourse” and “Higher Quality
Students,” respectively) dropped out of the top five and were replaced by a tie for fourth
between “Better Academic Nursing Leadership” at 18% and “More Input Into Decision
Making” (18%), but “Better Academic Nursing Leadership” was rated the highest by par-
ticipants more often ( N = 75 vs. N = 40). The stability of salary, resources, and teaching load
between the two studies is continuing confirmation that these remain critical issues for
doctoral nursing faculty, especially salary that dropped from 29% to 22% in the follow- up
study, but due to weighted responses many more respondents rated higher salary as the
leading factor of concern in the slightly larger 2016 study (2012, N = 159 vs. 216, N = 215).
SALARY ANALYSES
Salary data were further analyzed to provide a better picture of compensation in nurs-
ing academia based on roles. Low salaries among doctoral nursing faculty continue to