Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(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 §
214.6
of this chapter (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 vocational 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
(d) Faculty Qualifications.
(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 nursing in the State of Texas;
(B) Have been actively employed in nursing
for the past three (3) years or have advanced preparation in nursing, nursing
education, and/or nursing administration;
(C) Have had three (3) years varied nursing
experiences since graduation; and
(D) Show evidence of teaching abilities and
maintaining current knowledge, clinical expertise, and safety in the subject
areas of teaching responsibility.
(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 director or
coordinator 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-PN examination 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 vocational or registered
nurse in the State of Texas;
(B)
has been actively employed in nursing for at least two (2) years of the last
three (3) years;
(C) if not
actively employed in nursing during the past three (3) years, the prospective
faculty's advanced preparation in nursing, nursing education, and nursing
administration shall be considered; and
(D) prior relevant nursing
employment.
(4) A waiver
is valid for up to one (1) year.
(5) If an extension of the waiver is needed,
the director or coordinator shall petition Board Staff for an extension of the
original waiver.
(f)
Military faculty. Federal laws and regulations regarding licensure of military
nursing personnel shall apply to Texas based military faculty members
functioning within vocational nursing education programs.
(g) Non-nursing faculty are exempt from
meeting the faculty qualifications of this chapter as long as the teaching
assignments do not include nursing content or clinical nursing
courses.
(h) 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, body structure and function, microbiology,
pharmacology, nutrition, signs of emotional health, and human growth and
development, shall have sufficient educational preparation verified by the
program director/coordinator as appropriate to these areas of teaching
responsibility.
(i) 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.
(j) Teaching
assignments shall be commensurate with the faculty member's education and
experience in nursing.
(k) Faculty
Responsibilities:
(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.
(l) Teaching activities shall be coordinated
among full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and clinical preceptors.
(m) There shall be a minimum of one (1)
full-time nursing instructor for the program.
(n) A director/coordinator 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 vocational nursing education
program.