Nursing Faculty Shortage Facts and Factors

In a time when more nurses are desperately needed, it's disheartening that many qualified nursing school applicants are being turned away. Much of this is attributed to the nursing faculty shortage. Here's some background information about the nurse educator shortage:

• Nursing schools turned away more than 11,000 qualified applicants across the United States in 2003 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites and classroom space, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's (AACN) report on 2003-2004 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing. Almost two-thirds (64.8 percent) of the nursing schools responding to the 2003 survey pointed to faculty shortages as a reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into entry-level baccalaureate programs. (www.aacn.nche.edu)
  
  
• According to a study released by the Southern Regional Board of Education (SREB) in February 2002, a serious shortage of nurse faculty was documented in all 16 SREB states and the District of Columbia. Survey findings show that the combination of faculty vacancies (432) and newly budgeted positions (350) points to a 12-percent shortfall in the number of nurse educators needed. Unfilled faculty positions, resignations, projected retirements and the shortage of students being prepared for the faculty role pose a threat to the nursing education workforce over the next five years.
  (www.sreb.org)
  
  
• According to a Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions released by AACN in June 2003, 614 faculty vacancies were identified at 300 nursing schools across the country. The data show a nurse faculty vacancy rate of 8.6 percent, which is an increase from the 7.4 percent vacancy rate reported in 2000. Most of the vacancies (59.8 percent) were faculty positions requiring a doctoral degree.
  
  

• Faculty age continues to climb, narrowing the number of productive years nurse educators can teach. According to AACN's report on 2002-2003 Salaries of Instructional and Administrative Nursing Faculty in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, the median age of nurse faculty is 51.2 years. The average ages of doctorally prepared nurse faculty holding the ranks of professor, associate professor and assistant professor were 56.6, 54.2, and 50.5 years, respectively. The average age for all faculty ranks prepared at the master's degree level is 48.8 years.
  
  
• Also, a wave of faculty retirements is expected across the United States over the next decade. According to a March/April 2002 Nursing Outlook article, "The Shortage of Doctorally Prepared Nursing Faculty: A Dire Situation," the average retirement age for nurse faculty is 62.5. The authors project that between 200 and 300 doctorally prepared faculty will be eligible for retirement each year from 2003 through 2012, and between 220-280 master's-prepared nurse faculty will be eligible for retirement between 2012 and 2018.
  (www.us.elsevierhealth.com/product.jsp?isbn=00296554)
  
  
• Higher compensation in clinical and private-sector settings is luring current and potential nurse educators away from teaching. The average salary of a master's-prepared nurse practitioner working in her/his own private practice was $94,313, according to the 2003 National Salary Survey of Nurse Practitioners completed by ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners magazine. In contrast, AACN reports that master's-prepared nurse faculty across all ranks earned an annual average salary of $60,831. (http://www.advancefornp.com/common/editorial/editorial.aspx?CC=27756) and (www.aacn.nche.edu)
  
  
• Master's and doctoral programs in nursing are not producing a large enough pool of potential nurse educators to meet the demand. According to AACN's 2003-2004 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, graduations from master's programs were down 2.5 percent or 251 graduates; graduations from doctoral programs decreased by 9.9 percent or 44 graduates.
  (www.aacn.nche.edu)

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