With too few faculty, nursing schools turning away students

From staff and wire reports

At nursing schools from New Jersey to California, a surge of applicants who could ease the nation's worsening shortage of nurses are being turned away because many schools can't find adequate clinical sites, teaching facilities or qualified professors.

The shortfall in faculty is driven by health-care jobs that offer better pay and by fewer nurses pursuing the doctorate required for full-time, tenured teaching positions.

And, just as with the nurse work force, the faculty is graying. A wave of retirements is expected in about a decade when more care will be needed for aging baby boomers.

"I'm in dire straits in terms of faculty right now," said Julie Bliss, chairwoman of the Department of Nursing at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J.

Two of her 15 full-time tenured faculty resigned barely a month before the fall term, she said. They're headed to health-care jobs paying more than $80,000 a year, roughly $30,000 more than she can offer.

"They can't pay their mortgages on what we're paying," Bliss said.

Another two professors are on long-term sick leave, forcing Bliss to rely heavily on low-paid part-timers without doctoral degrees while student demand skyrockets.

The problem is not limited to a teacher shortage. At Southeast Missouri State University, Dr. A. Louise Hart, chairwoman of Southeast's Department of Nursing, said her hands are tied by a lack of classroom space.

"There are some of our classrooms where the students are elbow to elbow," Hart said.

In addition, Hart said her program also has trouble finding enough agencies at which students can do their clinical training.

Teri Kreitzer, director of human resources at Saint Francis Medical Center, said that her facility plays host for 150 to 200 students from at least three nursing schools each year. Although students don't always get the assignments they want, Kreitzer said, the hospital hasn't yet turned any away.

Hart also said her program is not turning students away. Although she filled 34 seats available in her program this semester, she said she's received interest from about 80 students looking to fill 35 seats in the winter. Those qualified applicants who don't make it into class in the winter will simply have to drop back a semester.

The current problems are compounded by a lingering danger due to the decline of future nursing faculty.

William Paterson University's nursing graduate program has fewer students, Bliss said, meaning less stress now but fewer educators later.

Without enough instructors, "we have to turn students away and that exacerbates the nursing shortage," which is expected to reach 400,000 vacant nurse positions by 2012, said Carol Picard, president-elect of the Honor Society of Nursing. "It's something for all of us to worry about as we age, because who's going to take care of us when we're older?"

The educational group is part of the Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow coalition now running ads with real nursing educators urging others to join the profession.

Staff writer Tony Rehagen contributed to this report.