Enrollment in nursing degree programs in some areas of the country has been higher than what colleges and universities can accommodate. The problem isn't that the institutions aren't large enough. The problem is that there aren't enough nurse educators to teach the courses, and a nurse faculty shortage affects a nursing shortage.
A shortage of nurse educators hasn't been addressed nearly as much as a nursing shortage, according to what Mountain State University Orlando Executive Director Randy White recently told the Orlando Business Journal. Mountain State University, in response to the shortage, has added a new masters degree in administration and education with classes beginning October 9. Mountain State University, which offers online degree programs as well, is located in Florida, where qualified nursing school applicants have been turned away by public universities, according to an October 2009 article in the Tallahassee Democrat.
Florida isn't alone. A National League of Nursing and Carnegie Foundation Preparation for the Professions Program report from 2006 suggested that nearly 1,400 budgeted, full-time nursing faculty positions throughout the country were unfilled. The vacancy rate was expected to grow as aging baby boomers working in nursing faculty positions retire, according to the report. The nursing turnover itself is already a major problem in states such as Florida, where even a gain of more than 27,000 registered nurses over the past two years was diminished so much by workforce losses that the state experienced a net gain of only about 11,000 registered nurses, according to a recent study from the Florida Center for Nursing.
A nurse educator shortage could be bad news for aging boomers. Nursing schools, with programs known for small class sizes, have to graduate about 90 percent more students from nursing programs to meet the anticipated demands of this segment of the population alone, according to the American Association for Colleges of Nursing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that technological advances in patient care and an increase in preventative care also are to contribute to a need for registered nurses. A healthy supply of nurse educators might help produce the registered nurses that places such as Florida need to avoid crippling the state's healthcare system.
Students interested in becoming nurse educators might find that online degree and certificate programs allow them to continue their education without interrupting their current employment. Western Governors University offers an online degree program known as an "RN to MSN," through which registered nurses with associate degrees or diplomas in nursing can earn an online degree in nursing education at the masters level. Advanced online degree and certificate programs from Walden University and Capella University, on the other hand, are for registered nurses who already hold masters degrees, according to their websites.
Walden University's online nursing education certificate program is designed to provide registered nurses with masters degrees the opportunities to advance their careers or add another element to their degrees, its website suggests. Capella University's online degree in education with a nursing education specialization is at the doctoral level, and is designed to prepare master's-level nurses to meet the unmet and growing need for nurse educators and advance the field of nursing through doctoral research, its website shows. Online colleges and universities, like their bricks and mortar counterparts, also offer scholarships, fellowships and other forms of financial aid.
The National League for Nursing-Carnegie Foundation survey shows that nurse educators in 2005-2006 earned an average $55,499 in basic salary and $5,453 in additional wages. Scholarships, grants and other financial incentives might make some students more likely to invest in advanced campus and online degree programs to become nurse educators. Carolyn Hickman, a doctoral degree candidate at Arizona State University, is one of several students throughout the country who in August received an $18,000 Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future Minority Nurse Faculty Scholarship, according to an announcement from the American Association for Colleges for Nursing that oversees the scholarship program. The Health Resources and Services Administration's Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service offers a Faculty Loan Repayment Program where health professionals (degree-trained) from disadvantaged backgrounds can work as nurse educators at accredited health professions colleges or universities for a minimum of t wo years. The boon of this program is that for each year of faculty service, up to $20,000 can be issued for what may matter most to the student: outstanding principal and interest on outstanding educational loans. This is according to the Health Resources and Services Administration website.
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