Faculty practice among Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education accredited nursing schools

This descriptive survey study investigated the value of faculty practice among Commission of Collegiate Nurse Education (CCNE) accredited nursing schools. The sample included all CCNE accredited schools that offered a Masters degree. Subjects from the 66 schools in the sample the dean and three Nurse Practitioner faculty who are teaching a clinical course. Response rate was 5% for the deans and 35% for the faculty. The opinions of deans were compared to the opinions of faculty on the views of faculty practice as research and the incorporation of faculty practice in the tenure and merit review system. The results showed faculty and deans differed on the value of faculty practice as research. However, only 6.5% of statistically significance difference was contributable to whether the response was from a dean of a faculty. There was no significant difference to the inclusion of faculty practice in the tenure and merit review system.; Boyer's expanded definition of research was used as a theoretical background. Deans viewed faculty practice more important as compared to the traditional faculty expectation of research than faculty did. The operational definition of faculty practice was that it required scholarly outcomes from the practice. Deans were more willing than faculty to acknowledge there were scholarly measurable outcomes to evaluate faculty practice than faculty were. The greatest difference in opinion of outcomes was the deans were more willing to accept clinically focused articles as an outcome than faculty were.; Faculty were asked how the money from faculty practice was distributed. Faculty overwhelmingly reported that money generated from faculty practice most often goes to the individual faculty member. Suggested areas for future research involve investigation of the role of tenure committees in tenure decisions relating to research and faculty practice.