6.       Nursing Schools Short on Faculty to Train Additional Nurses

A recent story by CNNMoney.com declared that the United States will be facing a nursing shortage that will continue to increase as the baby boomer population ages.

While the United States has had a nursing shortage for some time, it is expected that within the next 15 years the country will need an additional 260,000 nurses.  This is attributed to an aging population with a longer life expectancy who need more medical care as they age and aging nurses seeking to retire.

The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that nursing schools do not have the faculty and facilities to train enough nurses to fill the void.

The economic recession did help the field of nursing by encouraging more students to register for nursing schools and fewer nurses to retire.  However, nursing schools still were not able to accommodate all the applicants, and the trend in increased nursing students is not expected to continue as the economy improves.

However, a shortage of nursing instructors is seen as the biggest impediment to addressing the nursing shortage.  Nursing schools have difficulty recruiting and retaining nursing instructors since these same nurses can earn larger salaries working in hospitals than they can earn teaching.