A Qualitative Examination of Management Factors Influencing Graduation of Nurses in Public Collegiate Nursing Programs

An increasing shortage of registered nurses to care for an aging population means that many residents may lack urgently needed care by the year 2020. There is a gap in the literature regarding management challenges among directors of 2-year and 4-year public collegiate nursing schools and how their environments affect their goals of producing a sufficient supply of registered nurses. The Lynton turbulence, Lewin change, and Orem self-care theories were used as conceptual frameworks. Key research questions addressed in this study included understanding challenges related to: (a) the effects of political and economic turbulence on nursing care, (b) the most frequently identified nursing management problems, (c) future educational challenges related to producing adequate numbers of trained nurses, (d) projected nursing program modifications, and (e) what the program modifications mean to the future of public nursing schools. Criterion sampling for this qualitative case study was used to select the participants from five clusters of counties equivalent in population. Data were collected using a sequence of open-ended interviews. Transcribed data were validated via member checking. Data were scrutinized for recurring words and phrases. Results included 12 recurring themes of major concern among the directors. Turbulence and management challenges included limited budgets, faculty, and clinical sites; necessary program modifications to meet new industry requirements; and the risks of school closure if accreditation and regulatory requirements were not met. Implications for positive social change include identifying challenges to preparing adequate numbers of educated nurses to care for a population that is growing older.