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National League Recognizes MTCC Nursing Instructor

The Practical Nursing Education Program at McDowell Technical Community College is pleased to announce that Lora Poole Bartlett has earned the designation Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) after meeting strict eligibility criteria and successfully completing a rigorous certification examination developed and administered by the National League for Nursing.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing education, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 28,000 individual and 1200 institutional members.

Bartlett has been a faculty member in the Practical Nursing Education Program at McDowell Tech for 5 years. Coincidentally, she began her nursing career at McDowell Technical Community College, obtaining a Diploma in nursing in 1982. Following that, she earned an Associate Degree in Nursing at Catawba Valley-Technical College in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Gardner-Webb University in 1995. In 2008, she completed a Master's of Science in Nursing at Western Carolina University. Her nursing specialty areas include critical care, medical-surgical nursing and geriatrics.

“The NLN’s Academic Nurse Educator Certification (ANEC) Program has conferred new visibility and stature upon the academic nursing community, long overdue,” said Dr. Beverly Malone, Chief Executive Officer of the National League for Nursing. “Through the certification program, we have made clear to the ranks of higher education that the role of nurse educator is an advanced professional practice discipline with a defined practice setting and demonstrable standards of excellence,” she commented. Her hope is that certified nurse educators will command higher salaries and be first in line for promotions and tenure in years to come.

The newly certified nurse educators reflect the spectrum of their academic colleagues in the United States*:

• 31 percent hold doctoral degrees; the remainder master’s degrees
• 44.2 percent teach in baccalaureate or higher degree programs; 39.5   percent in associate degree programs; 9.7 percent in diploma programs; and   5.4 percent in practical nursing programs
• 57.2 percent hold the rank of assistant professor or higher: 13.9 percent are   full professors; 18.2 percent, associate professors; and 25.1 percent,   assistant professors
• 33 percent have more than 15 years of full-time employment experience as   academic nurse educators.

With nearly half (43.8 percent) of nurse faculty projected to retire within the next decade and nearly three-quarters (70.8 percent) within 15 years, replacing them is of grave concern, noted NLN president Dr. Elaine Tagliareni. “We must encourage more nurse faculty to prepare for certification as nurse educators so that our nursing schools can be staffed by academicians of the highest caliber. Only in this way can excellence in nursing education be ensured for another generation.”

In 2008, 663 nurse educators were awarded the CNE credential. Since the unveiling of the program in fall 2005 through June 30, 2009, 1,695 nurse educators representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia have become CNEs.

*Demographic data reflects those who took the examination 9/28/05 through 6/30/09.