| (a) Faculty Organization.
(1) The faculty shall be organized with written policies
and procedures and/or bylaws to guide the faculty and program's activities,
including processes for enforcement of written student policies.
(2) The faculty shall meet regularly and function in
such a manner that all members participate in planning, implementing,
and evaluating the nursing program. Such participation includes, but
is not limited to: the initiation and/or change in program policies,
personnel policies, curriculum, utilization of affiliating agencies,
and program evaluation.
(A) Committees necessary to carry out the functions
of the program shall be established with duties and membership of
each committee clearly defined in writing.
(B) Minutes of faculty organization and meetings shall
document the reasons for actions and the decisions of the faculty
and shall be available for reference.
(C) Part-time faculty may participate in all aspects
of the program. Clear lines of communication of program policies,
objectives, and evaluation criteria shall be included in the policies
for part-time faculty.
(b) There shall be a Nursing Faculty Handbook that
contains written policies for nursing faculty that are in keeping
with accepted educational standards and are consistent with the policies
of the governing entity. Nursing policies that differ from those of
the governing entity shall be consistent with nursing unit mission
and goals (philosophy and outcome).
(1) Written policies concerning workload for the director
or coordinator shall allow for sufficient time for administrative
responsibilities consistent with §215.6 of this title (relating
to Administration and Organization). Written policies for nursing
faculty workload shall allow sufficient time for faculty to accomplish
those activities related to the teaching-learning process.
(2) Personnel policies shall include position descriptions
for all members of the nursing program (including the director/coordinator)
outlining the qualifications and responsibilities directly related
to the nursing program.
(3) Written policies for nursing faculty shall also
include: terms of employment, plans for faculty orientation to the
institution and to the nursing program, resources and opportunities
for faculty development and evaluation of faculty, and Nursing Peer
Review, as described in §217.19 (relating to Incident-Based Nursing
Peer Review and Whistleblower Protections) and §217.20 (relating
to Safe Harbor Nursing Peer Review and Whistleblower Protections)
of this title.
(4) Orientation of new nursing faculty members shall
be initiated at the onset of employment.
(5) A plan for nursing faculty development shall be
offered to encourage and assist faculty members to meet the nursing
program's needs as well as individual faculty members' professional
development needs.
(6) A variety of means shall be used to evaluate faculty
performance such as self, student, peer, and administrative evaluation.
(c) A professional nursing education program shall
employ sufficient faculty members with educational preparation and
expertise necessary to enable the students to meet the program goals.
The number of faculty members shall be determined by such factors
as:
(1) The number and level of students enrolled;
(2) The curriculum plan;
(3) Activities and responsibilities required of faculty;
(4) The number and geographic locations of affiliating
agencies and clinical practice settings; and
(5) The level of care and acuity of clients.
(d) Faculty Qualifications and Responsibilities.
(1) Documentation of faculty qualifications shall be
included in the official files of the program.
(2) Each nurse faculty member shall:
(A) Hold a current license or privilege to practice
as a registered nurse in the State of Texas;
(B) Show evidence of teaching abilities and maintaining
current knowledge, clinical expertise, and safety in the subject areas
of teaching responsibility;
(C) Hold a master's degree or doctoral degree, preferably
in nursing;
(D) A nurse faculty member holding a master's degree
or doctoral degree in a discipline other than nursing shall hold a
bachelor's degree in nursing from an approved or accredited baccalaureate
program in nursing; and
(i) if teaching in a diploma or associate degree nursing
program, shall have at least six (6) graduate semester hours in nursing
appropriate to assigned teaching responsibilities, or
(ii) if teaching in a baccalaureate level program,
shall have at least twelve (12) graduate semester hours in nursing
appropriate to assigned teaching responsibilities.
(e) Faculty Waivers.
(1) In fully approved programs, if an individual to
be appointed as a faculty member does not meet the requirements for
faculty as specified in subsection (c) of this section, the dean or
director is permitted to waive the Board's requirements, without Board
approval, if the program and prospective faculty member meet the following
criteria and after notification to the Board of the intent to waive
the Board's faculty requirements for a temporary time period not to
exceed one (1) year:
(2) Minimum program criteria:
(A) program's NCLEX-RN® pass rate for the preceding
examination year was 80% or above; and
(B) total number of faculty waivers at program shall
not exceed 10% of the total number of nursing faculty.
(3) Minimum criteria for prospective faculty member:
(A) hold a current license or privilege to practice
as a registered nurse in the State of Texas;
(B) has at least two (2) years in the last four (4)
years of nursing practice experience in the anticipated subject areas
of teaching responsibility;
(C) has earned a bachelor's degree in nursing or completed,
as part of a nursing education program culminating in a master's or
doctorate degree in nursing, the course work equivalent to the course
work required for a bachelor's degree in nursing; and either
(i) is currently enrolled in a master's nursing education
program and has earned a minimum of 50% of the required credits toward
the master's degree in nursing, excluding thesis or professional paper;
or
(ii) holds a master's degree in another field and has
a documented plan to complete, within a designated time frame, the
required number of graduate semester hours in nursing appropriate
to the anticipated subject areas of teaching responsibility, six (6)
graduate semester hours in nursing to teach in a diploma or associate
degree nursing education program or twelve (12) graduate semester
hours in nursing to teach in a baccalaureate degree or entry-level
master's degree in nursing education program.
(4) When the program does not meet the minimum program
criteria or the prospective faculty member does not meet the minimum
criteria for a faculty member, a petition for an emergency waiver
may be submitted to the Board Staff for approval when a vacancy occurs
because a faculty member fails to report as planned, i.e., sudden
illness or death of a faculty member, or there is an unexpected resignation,
or qualified applicants/prospective faculty are not available.
(5) A waiver is valid for up to one (1) year.
(6) If an extension of the waiver is needed, the dean
or director shall petition Board Staff for an extension of the original
waiver.
(f) Non-nursing faculty are exempt from meeting the
faculty qualifications of this chapter as long as the teaching assignments
are not nursing content or clinical nursing courses.
(g) All nursing faculty, as well as non-nursing faculty,
who teach non-clinical nursing courses that are part of the nursing
curriculum, e.g., biological, physical, social, behavioral and nursing
sciences, including pathophysiology, pharmacology, research, nutrition,
human growth and development, management, and statistics, shall have
sufficient graduate level educational preparation verified by the
program dean or director as appropriate to these areas of responsibility.
(h) Non-nursing faculty assigned to teach didactic
nursing content shall be required to co-teach with nursing faculty
in order to meet nursing course objectives.
(i) Teaching assignments shall be commensurate with
the faculty member's education and experience in nursing.
(j) Faculty shall be responsible for:
(1) supervising students in clinical learning experiences;
(2) supervising all initial nursing procedures performed
by the student in the clinical area and ascertaining that the student
is competent before allowing the student to perform an actual nursing
procedure independently;
(3) developing, implementing, and evaluating curriculum;
and
(4) participating in the development, implementation,
and enforcement of standards/policies for admission, progression,
probation, and dismissal of students, and participation in academic
guidance and counseling.
(k) Teaching activities shall be coordinated among
full-time faculty, part-time faculty, clinical preceptors, and clinical
teaching assistants.
(l) There shall be a minimum of one (1) full-time nursing
instructor for the program.
(m) A dean/director without major teaching or clinical
responsibilities shall not be considered a full-time instructor for
purposes of meeting the Board's requirements related to having a sufficient
number of nursing faculty for a professional nursing education program.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §215.7 adopted to be effective January 9, 2005, 29 TexReg 12190; amended to be effective August 11, 2005, 30 TexReg 4480; amended to be effective January 9, 2007, 32 TexReg 92; amended to be effective October 19, 2008, 33 TexReg 8509; amended to be effective October 23, 2012, 37 TexReg 8304; amended to be effective August 9, 2018, 43 TexReg 5074 |
