| Enrollment in nursing degree programs in some areas | | | | years was diminished so much by workforce losses |
| of the country has been higher than what colleges and | | | | that the state experienced a net gain of only about |
| universities can accommodate. The problem isn't that | | | | 11,000 registered nurses, according to a recent study |
| the institutions aren't large enough. The problem is that | | | | from the Florida Center for Nursing. |
| there aren't enough nurse educators to teach the | | | | A nurse educator shortage could be bad news for |
| courses, and a nurse faculty shortage affects a | | | | aging boomers. Nursing schools, with programs known |
| nursing shortage. | | | | for small class sizes, have to graduate about 90 |
| A shortage of nurse educators hasn't been addressed | | | | percent more students from nursing programs to meet |
| nearly as much as a nursing shortage, according to | | | | the anticipated demands of this segment of the |
| what Mountain State University Orlando Executive | | | | population alone, according to the American |
| Director Randy White recently told the Orlando | | | | Association for Colleges of Nursing. The Bureau of |
| Business Journal. Mountain State University, in response | | | | Labor Statistics expects that technological advances in |
| to the shortage, has added a new masters degree in | | | | patient care and an increase in preventative care also |
| administration and education with classes beginning | | | | are to contribute to a need for registered nurses. A |
| October 9. Mountain State University, which offers | | | | healthy supply of nurse educators might help produce |
| online degree programs as well, is located in Florida, | | | | the registered nurses that places such as Florida need |
| where qualified nursing school applicants have been | | | | to avoid crippling the state's healthcare system. |
| turned away by public universities, according to an | | | | Students interested in becoming nurse educators might |
| October 2009 article in the Tallahassee Democrat. | | | | find that online degree and certificate programs allow |
| Florida isn't alone. A National League of Nursing and | | | | them to continue their education without interrupting |
| Carnegie Foundation Preparation for the Professions | | | | their current employment. Western Governors |
| Program report from 2006 suggested that nearly 1,400 | | | | University offers an online degree program known as |
| budgeted, full-time nursing faculty positions throughout | | | | an "RN to MSN," through which registered nurses with |
| the country were unfilled. The vacancy rate was | | | | associate degrees or diplomas in nursing can earn an |
| expected to grow as aging baby boomers working in | | | | online degree in nursing education at the masters level. |
| nursing faculty positions retire, according to the report. | | | | Advanced online degree and certificate programs |
| The nursing turnover itself is already a major problem | | | | from Walden University and Capella University, on the |
| in states such as Florida, where even a gain of more | | | | other hand, are for registered nurses who already hold |
| than 27,000 registered nurses over the past two | | | | masters degrees, according to their websites. |