Clinical Practice and the Graduate Nursing Faculty

When graduate faculty consider their responsibility to practice nursing, there needs to be an ensured framework within the school and university that will provide necessary support that includes opportunities and reward for demonstrated practice excellence. Setting realistic goals within an adequate time frame is essential. It does take a carefully formulated plan to balance practice, teaching, and scholarly work, and not make practice the sacrificial lamb when academic pressures increase. It is unfortunate that while in some nursing programs clinical excellence is expoused loudly or even raved about, its actual value in measures that make sense to faculty - promotion and tenure issues - may be limited. It is difficult to meet the triple commitment, carrying out each at the same time. Yet, the more individual faculty make effort in seeking to demonstrate models of practice, the more nursing excellence will be recognized. One way of improving the image of the nurse is for nursing's most prepared persons - faculty - to practice.