From the Deans Desk

Nancy Fugate Woods,Ph. D., R.N., F.A.A.N., Dean and Professor

The current nursing shortage is reaching crisis proportions both nationally and internationally. Although registered nurses represent the largest number of health care professionals in the United States, rapid changes in health care delivery practices have greatly affected supply and demand. Hospitals now serve fewer but sicker patients needing more specialized care. Inpatient care is rapidly being shifted to ambulatory and community-based settings.

Just at a time when the need for more experienced nurses is on the increase, the nursing workforce is aging at more than twice the rate of other occupations in the United States, and there is a declining number of new nursing school graduates. Peter Buerhaus, author of a study on the nursing shortage published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, notes that, if current trends continue, the nation will be short 400,000 nurses by 2020.

Such shortages come at the worst possible time, when increases in the numbers of individuals needing more health care services are on the rise. Besides a rise in total population figures, individuals aged 85 and older are expected to double in number by 2020. There is also prolonged life expectancy for people living with many chronic illnesses, such as AIDS. Advances in technology such as gene therapy or organ transplants and a large wave of young people involved in risky behavior are also increasing the need for nurses. And not just any nurse will do. There has been a sharp increase in the need for nurses with a strong science background and information technology-based training. There is also a corresponding need for nurses to work in home health, nursing homes, ambulatory care facilities, and non-traditional health care settings.

In addition to shortages in the RN workforce – only 25 percent of which is BSN prepared – the nation is also facing shortages in nurses with advanced degrees. At a time when more faculty are needed to teach greater numbers of students, the average age of full-time nursing faculty is 50. Many students entering master’s-degree programs – a traditional source of candidates for doctoral preparation – are opting instead for advance practice roles, where needs also exist. Doctoral programs, which supply the major pool of nurse educators, have “flattened” nationally because of salary inequities and competition from higher-paying clinical sites.

But it is not all bad news. With good recruitment strategies, the School of Nursing has been able to increase doctoral enrollment to 100 students. Master’s programs continue to admit approximately 100 new students annually, and the BSN program has been expanded 25 percent in three years. These increases in enrollment have been undertaken with no new faculty positions. In fact, they have been accomplished in the face of state budgetary cuts and a conversion of all faculty appointments from 12 months to nine months, despite our year-around curricula. We are currently functioning at over 100 percent capacity, but would admit more students from our large qualified applicant pool if adequate funding were available.

In the School of Nursing, we are committed to preparing a nursing workforce that can both serve local needs and shape the future, providing quality health care to all segments of society. In the pages that follow, I hope you will enjoy reading about how the School of Nursing is meeting that challenge with all of its educational programs, preparing not just more nurses but better-educated, technologically-savvy and culturally-sensitive nurses for the needs of today and tomorrow.

Return to Headlines