I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2384 

To create a pilot program to increase the number of graduate educated 

nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 17, 2007 

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York (for herself and Mr. BOUSTANY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To create a pilot program to increase the number of graduate 

educated nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nurse Faculty Higher 

5 Education Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In their 2006–2007 survey of 722 schools 

9 of nursing with baccalaureate and graduate proVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:18 May 19, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2384.IH H2384

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1 grams, the American Association of Colleges of 

2 Nursing found that U.S. nursing schools turned 

3 away 42,866 qualified applicants. The National 

4 League for Nursing (NLN) released a preliminary 

5 report on December 9, 2005 which estimated that 

6 schools of nursing with entry-level baccalaureate, as7 sociate, and diploma programs were forced to reject 

8 more than 147,000 qualified applications for 2005.

9 This was an 18 percent increase over last year’s fig10 ures. 

11 (2) In 2006, the mean ages of doctorally pre12 pared nurse faculty holding the ranks of professor, 

13 associate professor, and assistant professor are 58.6, 

14 55.8, and 51.6 respectively. For master’s degree-pre15 pared nurse faculty, the average ages for professors, 

16 associate professors, and assistant professors were 

17 56.5, 54.8, and 50.1 years, respectively. 

18 (3) The average age at retirement of nurse fac19 ulty is 62.5 years and it is expected that 200 to 300 

20 doctorally prepared faculty will be eligible for retire21 ment each year from 2007 through 2012 just as 

22 more than 1 million replacement nurses will be need23 ed. 

24 (4) The current faculty shortage will be greatly 

25 compounded in the next few years by the retirement 


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1 of many of the current nurse faculty in the United 

2 States. Without sufficient nurse faculty, schools of 

3 nursing cannot expand enrollments, and the nursing 

4 shortage will continue to cripple our nation’s health 

5 care delivery system. 

6 (5) Nursing salaries for faculty are not com7 petitive when compared to similarly educated nurses 

8 in clinical or administrative positions, as the average 

9 salary of a master’s prepared nurse faculty member 

10 in 2005 was $66,925 compared to $84,835 for a 

11 master’s prepared nurse practitioner working in an 

12 emergency department. 

13 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 

14 Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

15 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

16 the following new part: 

17 ‘‘PART E—NURSE FACULTY PILOT PROJECT 

18 ‘‘SEC. 771. PURPOSES. 

19 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to create a pilot pro20 gram— 

21 ‘‘(1) to provide scholarships to qualified nurses 

22 in pursuit of an advanced degree with the goal of be23 coming faculty members in an accredited nursing 

24 program; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) to provide grants to partnerships between 

2 accredited schools of nursing and hospitals or health 

3 facilities to fund release time for qualified nurse em4 ployees, so that those employees can earn a salary 

5 while obtaining an advanced degree in nursing with 

6 the goal of becoming nurse faculty. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 772. ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED. 

8 ‘‘(a) COMPETITIVE GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Sec9 retary may, on a competitive basis, award grants to, and 

10 enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with, 

11 partnerships composed of an accredited school of nursing 

12 at an institution of higher education and a hospital or 

13 health facility to establish not more than 5 pilot projects 

14 to enable such hospital or health facility to retain its staff 

15 of experienced nurses while providing a mechanism to have 

16 these individuals become, through an accelerated nursing 

17 education program, faculty members of an accredited 

18 school of nursing. 

19 ‘‘(b) DURATION; EVALUATION AND DISSEMINA20 TION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) DURATION.—Grants under this part shall 

22 be awarded for a period of 3 to 5 years. 

23 ‘‘(2) MANDATORY EVALUATION AND DISSEMI24 NATION.—Grants under this part shall be primarily 

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1 tutions of higher education, of the information ob2 tained through the activities described in section 

3 771(2). 

4 ‘‘(c) CONSIDERATIONS IN MAKING AWARDS.—In 

5 awarding grants and entering into contracts and coopera6 tive agreements under this section, the Secretary shall 

7 consider the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—Providing 

9 an equitable geographic distribution of such grants. 

10 ‘‘(2) RURAL AND URBAN AREAS.—Distributing 

11 such grants to urban and rural areas. 

12 ‘‘(3) RANGE AND TYPE OF INSTITUTION.—En13 suring that the activities to be assisted are developed 

14 for a range of types and sizes of institutions of high15 er education. 

16 ‘‘(4) PRIOR EXPERIENCE OR EXCEPTIONAL

17 PROGRAMS.—Institutions of higher education with 

18 demonstrated prior experience in providing advanced 

19 nursing education programs to prepare nurses inter20 ested in pursuing a faculty role. 

21 ‘‘(d) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available by 

22 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under this part 

23 may be used— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to develop a new national demonstration 

2 initiative to align nursing education with the emerg3 ing challenges of healthcare delivery; and 

4 ‘‘(2) for any one or more of the following inno5 vations in educational programs: 

6 ‘‘(A) to develop a clinical simulation lab7 oratory in a hospital, health facility, or accred8 ited school of nursing; 

9 ‘‘(B) to purchase distance learning tech10 nologies; 

11 ‘‘(C) to fund release time for qualified 

12 nurses enrolled in the graduate nursing pro13 gram; 

14 ‘‘(D) to provide for faculty salaries; and 

15 ‘‘(E) to collect and analyze data on edu16 cational outcomes. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 773. APPLICATIONS. 

18 ‘‘Each partnership desiring to receive a grant, con19 tract, or cooperative agreement under this part shall sub20 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

21 manner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec22 retary may require. Each application shall include assur23 ances that— 

24 ‘‘(1) the individuals enrolled in the program will 

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1 toral degree in nursing and have a contractual obli2 gation with the hospital or health facility that is in 

3 partnership with the institution of higher education; 

4 ‘‘(2) the hospital or health facility of employ5 ment would be the clinical site for the accredited 

6 school of nursing program; 

7 ‘‘(3) individuals will also maintain their employ8 ment on a part time basis to the hospital or health 

9 facility that allowed them to participate in the pro10 gram, and will receive an income from the hospital 

11 or health facility, as a part time employee, and re12 lease times or flexible schedules to accommodate 

13 their class schedule. 

14 ‘‘(4) upon completion of the program, individ15 uals agree to teach for 2 years in an accredited 

16 school of nursing for each year of support the indi17 vidual received under this program; and 

18 ‘‘SEC. 774. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for this 

20 part not more than $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and 

21 such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 suc22 ceeding fiscal years. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 775. DEFINITION. 

24 ‘‘For purposes of this part, the term ‘health facility’ 

25 means an Indian Health Service health service center, a 


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1 Native Hawaiian health center, a hospital, a Federally 

2 qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a nursing 

3 home, a home health agency, a hospice program, a public 

4 health clinic, a State or local department of public health, 

5 a skilled nursing facility, or ambulatory surgical center.’’. 

Æ 


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