Faculty Shortages in Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing Programs: Scope of the Problem and Strategies for Expanding the Supply

This white paper summarizes the scope of the problem of faculty shortages in nursing education and discusses issues contributing to the shortage of faculty. It also outlines strategies for expanding the capacity of the current and future pool of nursing faculty. The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented shortage of registered nurses, and this shortage is expected to persist. Intensifying the overall nursing shortage is the increasing deficit of full-time master's and doctorally prepared nursing faculty, which limits the number of students who can be educated in nursing programs. Faculty age, the departure of educators from teaching, changing employment patterns, changing enrollment patterns, and salary differentials combine to reduce the number of nursing educators. A variety of short-term approaches may alleviate the nursing faculty shortage. Faculty capacity can be expanded in nontraditional ways with current resources, and it may be possible to use the pool of retired nursing educators to fill faculty vacancies on a part-time basis. Nursing clinical education, both resource intensive and critically important, may be enhanced through partnerships between institutions. Research about ways to use nursing faculty is needed, as are better professional development, mentoring, and institutional encouragement. Long-term strategies are also outlined with regard to recruitment, retention, and collaboration. An appendix describes a conference on building nursing faculty leadership (San Antonio, Texas, April 24-26, 2003). (Contains 78 references.) (SLD)