Lack of Faculty Contributes To Ongoing Nursing Shortage
Nursing schools have faced a remarkable rise in demand, with some programs experiencing a 6.5% increase in enrollment per year since 1999. As a result, the number of nursing faculty has not been able to keep up with this increase, and there has been an ongoing shortage of nurses. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the U.S. will need to hire an additional 44,500 new registered nurses in the next decade to meet the nursing shortage.
This trend is especially difficult because there is already a lack of nursing faculty, despite a recent increase in nursing faculty and nurse faculty ratios, which shows that there is an excess of open positions.
Currently, only 118.3 full-time equivalent positions are vacant across all undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in the United States at all levels (the number of administrator and associate professor positions has been omitted). [1] The shortage is even more severe at the PhD level: only 20 full-time positions are vacant among all PhD programs in the United States.
According to Susan Sorenson, PhD, RN-BC, a professor at University of California San Diego School of Nursing and the former president of the Consortium of Doctoral Programs in Nursing (CODP-N), universities are responding to the nursing shortage by developing new courses and programs. For example, there has been a push to increase online content because it is less expensive than face-to-face teaching and can reach more students.
Contrary to popular belief, Sorenson says that the nursing shortage is not due to an oversaturation of nursing faculty relative to other professions: "Despite having the largest number of new doctoral graduates in all fields (at 11% of all graduates), nurses account for only 8% of faculty hires. Furthermore, over half of these faculty are hired for associate professor positions and not full professorships." In addition, only 17% of nurses with PhDs are employed in academic roles.
According to Sorenson, 94% of the nursing faculty shortage is attributed to a lack of available tenure-track positions. "Even if all the associate professors who were hired in 2015 were promoted to full professor positions, there would still be a significant gap," she says.
"In most fields," Sorenson says, "faculty appointments have been declining in the past decade. The average across all fields is 3.2 new faculty members per 100 new PhD graduates. Meanwhile, nursing programs report 7 new hires per 100 graduates. These numbers are very similar to the middle-range of all other fields."
The influx of students has led to an increase in universities' expenses, and some schools have had to take out loans. "In recent years," Sorenson says, "the national average for graduate tuition per pupil at these institutions is about $30,700. In 2011–2012, this number reached $44,350 at many nursing schools."
At the same time that universities have been hiring more faculty members in order to meet increased enrollment demands, they are also having a hard time managing those faculty members. According to Sorenson, relationships between departments and university administration have become strained. "Professors are having a hard time staying funded," she says. "About 12% of faculty members change programs each year. In other professions, this is closer to 5%."
In addition, professors are finding that the number of students they supervise is increasing. "Students and BSNs now account for 40% of course work," Sorenson says. "Earlier, the majority was done by faculty members."
Finally, many professors are feeling more pressure to perform well in every aspect of their jobs – teaching, mentoring, research and service – and some professors have a hard time balancing these demands on top of their administrative tasks. "A person who is doing all three, teaching, research and service should be compensated at a much higher level," Sorenson says.
"There is a day in the life of every nursing school, and we're all experiencing it. Our students are coming to us with more debt than ever, our faculty are increasing in number but not being offered the full range of career opportunities they deserve."
"For now," Sorenson says, "colleges need to empower their deans and provosts to lead by example. If a dean or provost can't support their faculty members with time for scholarship and service, then we need someone else who can." [1] Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016). Occupational Outlook Handbook 2016-17, Nursing and Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Professionals (141609). Washington DC: The Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; accessed November 3, 2016.
"Why there is a nursing shortage" . Online date: 12/19/2007. Online version of this article can be found at http://activistwriters.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-there-is-nursing-shortage.html
Blythe Anne Feuer '80 PhD '01 has been in the field of public health since graduating from Princeton University in 1980 with a PhD in human ecology. Since leaving academia in 2003, she has worked for human rights organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey. In 2012, she published the memoir "Doing Bad by Doing Good: The Activist Life of a Public Health Crusader." She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children.
Author's note: This article is adapted from an interview with Blythe Anne Feuer by Deborah Pauli. Pauli is a PhD candidate at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, conducting research on the intersection of public health and human rights, including reproductive health and family planning issues. Pauli graduated from the nursing program at Princeton in 2012 and is a registered nurse. She is also an activist who has written previously for Activist Writers on reproductive health and social justice issues.
Polls: Opinions about health care reform vary widely
By Christina Kelsey, NNPA News Wire Social issues reporter With the Department of Justice announcing its opposition to a Texas federal judge's ruling that ObamaCare requirements for birth control are unconstitutional, women's healthcare remains one of the most important topics in this presidential election year.
A recent Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows that majorities of men and women have favorable views of several provisions within ObamaCare.
But opinions on some of the law's key provisions - including Medicaid expansion, transgender healthcare, and abortion - still vary widely, according to the poll.
Other recent polls reveal both sides of the issue comprise one-third of the electorate.
Medicaid and birth control are hot-button topics this election season. The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that about 8 in 10 Americans (81 percent), for example, have "a favorable opinion" of Medicaid expansion. That leaves 19 percent having a negative opinion.
The poll found that two-thirds of Americans (66 percent) say they approve of a decision by the Obama administration overruling a Texas judge who ruled that birth control is not medically necessary to prevent pregnancy.
Conclusion:
"The polling shows attitudes toward ObamaCare are still split on the key issues," said Kaiser's Becky Narain, senior health analyst.
The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll was conducted from July 21 to Aug. 4 and included more than 2,000 interviews nationwide.
For more on the poll, see http://www.kff.org/medicaid-expansion-poll/index.cfm .