WORK LOAD ISSUES IN CLINICAL NURSING-EDUCATION

This survey of 22 baccalaureate (BSN) programs was undertaken to descr ibe and analyze work load issues in BSN nursing education. Academic ca reers of nursing faculty may be at risk because clinical work load pol icies generally place less value on clinical teaching than on classroo m teaching. Research questions addressed teaching credit hours receive d for each clinical contact hour, remaining weekly hours available for clinical faculty to accomplish service and research activities, and s tudent-to-faculty ratios in clinical settings. Seventy per cent of the programs surveyed allocated less than 1 teaching credit hour to 1 cli nical contact hour. Nursing faculty who taught clinical courses with . 5:1 to .25:1 work load credit for face-to-face contact hour ratios nee ded to work between 8 and 24 hours more in face-to-face teaching compa red with colleagues teaching lecture courses, thus leaving less time f or scholarship and service activities. Fifty per cent of the programs reported 10 or more students in some of the clinical courses. Faculty reported concerns about quality of learning experiences and supervisor y difficulties as student numbers in clinical courses exceeded 8 stude nts/faculty member.