Nursing

Online nursing degrees to combat nurse shortage

Nurse Leader Weekly, November 2, 2007

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In light of the national nursing shortage, online nursing degrees are a beneficial alternative to traditional programs, allowing students to take their required course load and still work full-time. Furthermore, the increasing shortage of full-time master's and doctorally-prepared nursing faculty is contributing to the current nursing shortage by limiting the number of students admitted to nursing programs. Online programs fill the void left by the faculty shortage, enabling those students wait-listed at traditional schools an opportunity at a nursing education.

For example, the Tennessee Board of Regents Campus Collaborative now offers a new online nursing degree program. Approved last month by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, the new degree of applied science in nursing will be available in spring 2008. 

Students are required to spend a minimum of 360 hours online as well as an additional 630 hours "on-ground" in lab sessions provided by supervising faculty from participating institutions. Program designers estimate 300 students will be enrolled by fall 2009 and that there will be 50 fall graduates that year. By fall 2010, 100 new students are expected to enroll each year.

Sources: The Jackson Sun, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AllNursingSchools.com



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