Without enough nurses joining the ranks of nurse faculty, the nation’s nursing shortage is destined to persist well into the coming decades.
Beverly Malone, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN
President and Chief Executive Officer, National League for Nursing
Faculty shortages in nursing education have long been acknowledged as a primary barrier to overcoming the persistent shortage of nurses in America’s healthcare system. What’s flown under the radar, however, are the realities that created and sustain this stubborn problem in graduating enough qualified nurses.
A decade of underfunding
Chief among these is a decade spent underfunding programs and initiatives that facilitate the completion of the advanced degrees required for nurses who aspire to teach. The existing federal programs that provide some tuition relief and lessen student loan debt are insufficient to meet demand. They also require periodic congressional reauthorization, which makes them far from guaranteed support for nurses who want to return to school to earn a master’s level or higher degree.
The pay gap driving nurses away
A second obstacle to faculty growth that has gone largely unaddressed is the significant wage difference between academic nursing education and clinical salaries for advanced practice nurses, with both roles requiring advanced degrees.
These twin stumbling blocks are not an inevitable consequence of natural attrition in nursing education, although faculty retention can be another challenge. Rather, today’s widespread faculty shortages are a result of funding choices and policies that demonstrate a lack of vision about what must be done to secure the future of a sufficient nursing workforce that ensures healthcare delivery.
A bipartisan opening in Congress
Fortunately, the issue has caught the attention of a rare bipartisan coalition in both the Senate and House of Representatives that has crafted new legislation to work in tandem with the established tuition and loan programs. This visionary group of lawmakers represents agreement that faculty pay and its impact on the nursing workforce is a matter of federal concern, not one isolated to academic and healthcare institutions.
Why nurses must speak up
If money is power, as the saying goes, and there is strength in numbers, then nurses and nurse educators must raise their almost 5 million voices in the halls of power through elected officials, as well as through our own advocacy organizations and professional associations, to lobby for the passage of federal legislation that enshrines the vital principle of fair pay for nursing education.
As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, let’s use our collective power and influence to help advance excellence in nursing education, the bedrock of which is a strong and diverse nursing faculty to nurture, educate, prepare, and mentor today’s and future generations of practice-ready nursing graduates to deliver quality, safe healthcare to advance the health and well-being of our nation.
