Overcoming nursing faculty shortages and bridging the gap between education and practice.

The nurse faculty shortage and new requirements for teaching have led to thousands of qualified applicants being turned away from prelicensure nursing programs. In response, the Chief Nursing Officer in one organization created nursing faculty consultant positions to collaborate with faculty, teach prelicensure students in clinical practice, ensure the consistency of care by students in the hospital system, and enhance the relationships between schools of nursing and the organization. In the past 4 years the nursing faculty consultants have been employed they have taught over 500 nursing students from six different nursing programs.