As UNMC prepares to open the Center for Nursing Science on Wednesday, College of Nursing Dean Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., reflects on how the new building will help the medical center confront a shortage of nurse faculty as well as other benefits of the new facility.
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Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc. |
In July 2010, national data indicated a total of 880 faculty vacancies among just a small sample of 303 U.S. nursing schools with bachelor’s of sciences in nursing and/or nursing graduate programs. At UNMC, 25 percent of the nurse faculty are 60 years old or older while only 14 percent are younger than 40. Left to natural progression, 25 percent of faculty will retire in the next five years and there aren’t enough young faculty to replace them.
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The emphasis in the new building is on nursing science and on generating future faculty. Although students in all programs will enjoy the state-of-the art new building, our urgency is to expand the science that excites students so they pursue advanced degrees and become future faculty and nurse scientists.
Why is the building named the Center for Nursing Science?
Nursing science provides evidence for practice and teaching. For example, College of Nursing faculty currently investigate:
- Prevention of fatigue and disability that cancer patients experience during chemotherapy;
- Improved recovery and rehabilitation for cardiac patients after bypass surgery; and
- Methods for nurses in long-term care facilities to give sophisticated end-of-life care to residents.
The findings of these studies change what we teach. And students typically are hired on these grants as research assistants, which sows the seeds for their own passion for university careers. In these ways, nursing science is the heart of the future.
Give an example of an important program that will occupy the new building.
Across the country, there are only 10 developmental research centers funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. UNMC’s Heart Health Research Center is one of them. The center, which was funded last year with $1.5 million from the NIH, will move to the new building. The center aims to reach rural Nebraskans at risk for heart disease in order to help them avoid serious illness.