The nursing shortage continues as faculty shortage grows

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Workforce

Background:

• Increased interest in nursing careers has led to applicant surges.
• Academic nursing institutions face challenges accommodating this growth.
• A critical shortage of nursing faculty exacerbates the overall nursing shortage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the primary drivers of the nursing faculty shortage.
• To explore the impact of the faculty shortage on nursing education and patient care.
• To propose solutions for mitigating the nursing faculty shortage.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of factors contributing to faculty shortages.
• Examination of the relationship between faculty availability and nursing education capacity.
• Review of compensation and career progression in academic nursing.

Main Results:

• Key factors include an aging faculty, impending retirements, and lower compensation compared to clinical roles.
• Insufficient numbers of master's and doctoral-prepared nurses are available for educator positions.
• The faculty shortage directly limits the capacity to educate baccalaureate-prepared Registered Nurses (RNs).

Conclusions:

• The nursing faculty shortage poses a significant threat to safe patient care.
• Urgent strategies are needed to address faculty recruitment and retention.
• Applying the nursing process to solve faculty shortages is crucial for the profession's future.