Elsevier

Nursing Outlook

Volume 57, Issue 1, January–February 2009, Pages 50-59
Nursing Outlook

Article
Education
Faculty workload calculation

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Faculty members and nursing education administrators have long examined faculty workloads and documentation thereof but have had difficulty quantifying the work faculty members accomplish in academia. Workloads become even more complicated as faculty members incorporate many activities into their roles of teaching, research, clinical practice, and community service. A form that was simple yet fairly complete was developed at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing. The purpose of this article is to describe our workload documentation and issues surrounding its use. This form has been a useful beginning for discussions about accomplishing the work of the mission areas of the school. Our experience and documents may be useful to others.

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Background

Faculty members at the UTHSC-H SON have developed a series of faculty workload policies and procedures over the years. However, because they have been very complex, have been difficult to understand, and have required a great deal of work to complete, none of these policies have been successfully embraced by the faculty members. In addition, faculty members and administrators have not reached agreement about what constitutes an appropriate workload. Several years ago, faculty members in the SON

Underlying philosophical issues

Several issues guided the development of our WLC form, and some of these issues still linger. These conflicting philosophical issues about workload calculation have been debated among faculty members and administrators. First, professionalism is often cited as a reason against quantifying workloads. As highly educated professionals, faculty members say it is demeaning to “punch a clock” and be accountable for productivity. The notion of a 40-hour workweek was established as the norm for

Workload policy development

Several underlying assumptions guided the development of the WLC. First, the university operates on a 3-semester year (i.e., fall, spring, summer). Two semesters are 15 weeks long, and the third is 12 weeks long. Therefore, only 42 weeks are accounted for in calculating workload. The 10 weeks unaccounted for can be used for vacation and as discretionary time for work and scholarship. Faculty members receive compensation for 40 hours each week for all 52 weeks. The premise of the WLC is that 1

Policy

In creating our workload policy, we addressed issues raised in other workload experiences. For example, more units are allocated for teaching larger classes, since teaching 100 or more students clearly requires more time and effort than teaching smaller classes. Work units are also generated for guest lectures from persons outside the school because our faculty members coordinate and make arrangements with the lecturer and review and/or construct tests or grade papers based on the presentation.

Piloting the workload calculator and faculty members' response

The piloting process for the new WLC took place over 2 academic years. During this time, we had to overcome difficulties such as resistance from the faculty members to yet another workload instrument and the complex nature of past instruments. For example, in 2005, the Faculty Life Council completed work on a 5-page form to compute faculty members' workload. One AD/DC even offered to have staff help faculty members complete the reports because they were so time-consuming. The intent of the

Recommendations

The SON needs to be guided by best practice for assigning work to faculty members, including establishing a partnership between administrators and faculty members to determine a distribution of work that is fair, equitable, and as transparent as possible. Accountability for the distribution of work is necessary so that resources are used responsibly and outcomes for the resources are known. Our recommendations for best practices are outlined here.

First, administrators should include faculty

Future considerations

While it is difficult for a workload assessment document to be both simple and complete, the WLC has been useful to the ADs/DCs in determining equitable workloads for faculty members within and across departments. Faculty members' complex roles require institutions to use flexible and creative methods for supporting and retaining faculty members.8 In addition, administrators have the responsibility to manage resources in partnership with faculty members. The 3 ADs/DCs share the philosophy that

Marlene Z. Cohen, PhD, RN, FAAN, was the John S. Dunn, Sr., Distinguished Professor in Oncology Nursing and Assistant Dean and Department Chair, Department of Integrative Nursing Care, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing, Houston, TX. She was also a Professor in the Department of Symptom Research, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

Marlene Z. Cohen, PhD, RN, FAAN, was the John S. Dunn, Sr., Distinguished Professor in Oncology Nursing and Assistant Dean and Department Chair, Department of Integrative Nursing Care, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing, Houston, TX. She was also a Professor in the Department of Symptom Research, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Joanne V. Hickey, PhD, RN, ACNP, BC, FAAN, FCCM, is a Patricia L. Starck/PARTNERS Professor in Nursing, Assistant Dean and Department Chair of Acute and Continuing Care, and Coordinator of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX.

Sandra L. Upchurch, PhD, RN, is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean and Department Chair in the Department of Nursing Systems, School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX.

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