|
Nursing field faces increasing shortage
Published April 17, 2006
With nursing and master’s degrees, job opportunities were many for Michael Hutton when he retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2000.
“I read the papers and I knew there was a shortage of nurses and instructors,” Hutton said. “I had the educational qualifications to be an instructor and I believed I could impact nursing the greatest if I became an instructor.”
Hutton, an instructor at Alvin Community College, is making good money and he has plenty of vacation days to spend with family, he said. However, nurses working in clinics and hospitals around the area are paid considerably more, he said.
“The perception is you can earn more money with a graduate degree than you can in education,” Hutton said. “The salary isn’t so bad, but nurses can make a lot more money elsewhere.”
Nationwide and in Texas, there are increased shortages as a result of a retiring nursing population and an aging population that is in need of more care, according to a study by the Department of State Health Services.
The only way to solve the Texas nursing shortage, the study shows, is to increase the number of nursing instructors in Texas. However, the study also shows many teaching candidates declined faculty positions because the salary was insufficient.
“The average salary of a nurse is $50,000 and some hospitals are offering signing benefits,” said Ken Tasa, dean of Educational Programs and Services at Brazosport College. “It’s a rigorous program, but it is a rewarding program, and in order to attract those nurses for faculty, the schools would have to offer incentives in pay.”
According to a Department of State Health Services study, more than 90 percent of Texas’ 78 nursing programs cannot offer competitive salaries to nursing educators.
The need for nurses is so great that hospitals are providing part-time nursing instructors to schools, said Sally Durand, director of the Associate Degree Nursing Program for Alvin Community College. One instructor teaching at Alvin Community College this year is a nurse with Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. In the past, Memorial Hermann Hospital also has provided instructors to the school, she said.
“The nurse teaches for us but is paid by the hospital,” Durand said. “The hospital is trying to help the school because our graduates help staff the hospitals.”
Hospitals are working with shortages now, but in less than 10 years, the shortages will be even greater if more nurses are not trained, a State Health Services study shows.
“The baby boomers are aging and the nurses are aging,” Durand said. “The average age of nurses is 46. They can anticipate a lot of shortages once the nurses retire and the number of retirees increases.”
Among nursing educators, the average age is higher than that of nurses in clinical settings. In 2004, 48 percent of Texas’ nursing faculty was between the ages of 50 and 60, a State Health Services study shows. Nationally, nursing instructors are retiring at about 62 years old. The study also shows enrollment in nursing programs is increasing faster than the number of available educators.
The Board of Nurse Examiners requires programs have a 1-to-10 teacher-student ratio in the clinical setting, and it is difficult for schools to abide by the requirement if they want to increase their enrollment without increasing instructors, Hutton said. To combat the nursing shortage while abiding by the rules, Alvin Community College began a program this year that uses local hospital nurses as preceptors, he said.
“Hospital staff nurses are trained to be preceptors and the student works out a schedule with that nurse,” Hutton said. “The preceptors don’t have master’s, but they teach the students in the clinical settings only.”
The school cannot increase its enrollment without having enough instructors for the clinical setting education, Hutton said. The preceptors help increase the number of instructors. Hutton can lecture to a large class and then the preceptors can work with the students outside the classroom, he said.
“It’s our first year, so we’ll see how it goes,” Hutton said.
The shortage of nurses and nursing instructors is a cycle that might be broken only if wages increase for nursing educators, Tasa said.
“Some schools are discussing pay premiums to attract nurses,” Tasa said. “The large shortage in hospitals affects the shortage of instructors.”
New programs and new ideas are needed to attract instructors, Durand said. The interest in nursing is great — the schools turn away more than half their applicants every year, she said.
“We just don’t have the slots.” Durand said. “We are going to have to find a way to increase our number of instructors.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
|
|
 |
|
Click for all
Top Ads listing
|
