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News Spotlight: RWJF and AARP hold conference to address nursing faculty shortage

Nurse Manager Weekly, October 26, 2009

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The nursing shortage threatening to plague the country over the next decade was recently addressed at a two-day conference sponsored by the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA). The conference—sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP—focused on ways the nation can boost the number of faculty in nursing programs. A shortage of nursing faculty to educate the next generation of nurses will exacerbate the nursing shortage.

Nursing education leaders from 11 states met and discussed the Oregon model for boosting nurse faculty. The Oregon model gives students in associate degree nursing programs the opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees by combining the curriculum and faculty of community colleges and universities. Already, eight community colleges in Oregon have joined with the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing to form the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education. This allows students in rural areas to complete their coursework for a bachelor's degree while remaining in their community.

The model is being discussed at the conference as a way to increase the number of nurses with bachelor degrees. These nurses are more likely to pursue advanced education and become faculty at some point. The faculty shortage is set to reach crisis point as many faculty are closer to retirement than practicing nurses.

Source: The Miami Herald (OR)

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