Nursing profession crisis: Qualified dean candidates are in short supply.

Nursing schools struggle to address the broader nursing workforce crisis, in part due to the decline in the number of qualified candidates for leadership positions. In this paper, we report interviews of four nurse practitioners (NPs) who have served as deans or directors of schools of nursing to gain an initial understanding of NPs in these roles. These interviews profile the career pathways, education, motivation, skills, plus genesis and preparation for rigorous application and interview processes of these NPs in a dean role. Together these key informant deans cited leadership as the essential skill needed for the role. One NP dean particularly stated that leadership supersedes the need for research or scholarship expertise. It will be interesting to see whether an emphasis on leadership, rather than terminal degree, will help our profession solve the problem of dean candidates in short supply.