The population is growing and aging and demands more and better health care. As a result, the demand for nurses will continue to grow for many years to come.
There is a shortage of nurses in the U.S. (and worldwide) at present and the fact that nursing programs are impacted and cannot turn out enough graduates to meet the needs is not helping the situation.
Qualified Applicants Turned Away
The shortage of nurses contributes to the fact that there are not enough nurse educators and each year nursing schools turn away thousands of qualified applicants. In 2008-9, nursing programs in the U.S turned away 49,948 qualified students from baccalaureate (BSN) and graduate degree nursing (MSN) programs. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), almost two-thirds of the schools reported a shortage of nursing faculty as their primary reason.
Nurse Faculty Vacancies
According to an AACN survey published in August 2009, a total of 803 faculty vacancies exist in the 554 BSN and graduate degree nursing schools surveyed across the U.S. Of the 554 schools, 70.2% responded to the survey. Most of vacancies (90.6%) represent a lack of doctoral prepared nurses to fill them. Reasons cited were non-competitive salaries compared to what these nurses can earn in the practice arena, and a general shortage of doctoral prepared nurses.
In addition to the current faculty vacancies, the schools responding to the survey indicated a need for an additional 279 faculty positions to meet the student demand. The average age of doctorally prepared nurse educators is 53.5 years, according to a study from 2002 which is the most recent data. The average age of retirement is 62.5 years. Projected figures show that between 2003 and 2012, approximately 30 doctorally prepared nurses will retire. Between 2012 and 2018, about 220-280 master’s degree nurse educators will retire.
ANA Supports Obama
The American Nurses Association endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign because he met with them and expressed an understanding and promised support of the nursing profession and the need to educate more nurses. Nurses are the backbone of the health care system and for any type of health care reform to succeed, there has to be more nurses.
The current population of nurses is aging and nearing retirement. The Great Recession brought many nurses out of retirement temporarily or stalled their plans because of faltering economic situations. However, as the economy recovers, large numbers of nurses will retire.
Health Care Reform Involves Nurses
An important issue to be considered in health care reform is funding for nursing education. By 2016, there will be a need for 587,000 new nurses. Many of those jobs will be created in the home health care industry. The growth of hospital nurses is expected to be much slower as patients stay fewer days and are sent home to recover. In addition to the need for new nurses, there will be a need for about 425,000 replacement nurses, meaning one million new and replacement nurse jobs created in the next six years alone.
To accomplish this, there needs to be an emphasis on educating and paying competitive salaries for nurse educators. Students considering nursing as a career also need to look beyond their own neighborhood for education opportunities. There are a number of nursing schools without waiting lists. These programs need to be populated.
Kathy Quan - Kathy Quan RN BSN has been a home health/hospice nurse for over 30 years. She has authored five books and writes for several online ...
