By 2020, America will need more than 3.45 million new nurses. Beyond filling current vacancies and recruiting replacements for those who retire, nurses trained in a broader range of skills will be needed to take on expanding roles as 32 million Americans gain access to healthcare services under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. By the beginning of the next decade, the number of people over 65 in the U. S. will have grown to 55 million, which means more and sicker patients with chronic conditions will be looking to the healthcare system for nurses with the knowledge and training to care for them.
What makes these converging statistical trends an even higher mountain to climb isn’t a lack of interest in nursing careers. According to a study by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), nursing schools turned away more than 75,500 qualified applicants in 2011—most due to a lack of faculty to teach them.
The average age of teachers at nursing schools of nursing has been getting older, and as they retire, there haven’t been enough new candidates ready to step into their positions. To address this critical shortage, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been awarding grants through the Nurse Faculty Loan Program to help remove some of the financial obstacles that could be standing in the way of nurses who may be interested in going into teaching.
This year, the largest of three grants in Alabama and the seventh largest in the U.S. went to Samford’s Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing.
“The $845,146 grant will fund 77 students pursuing a master’s or a doctorate in nurse education this year. What is especially helpful to students is that up to 85% of the loan will be forgiven for those who teach full time in an accredited school of nursing for at least four years,” Jane S. Martin, associate dean of Samford’s graduate program, said.
Samford was among the 55 schools of nursing chosen to receive the grant the first year it was awarded. Since that time, 137 graduates have gone on to begin teaching in schools of nursing, including one who filled a position teaching psychiatric nursing that had been open five years.
“Faculty preparation has been a particular niche for us. We had the masters’ program in place and expanded the doctorate program, so we were ready for students when the grant became available,” Martin said.
Samford has been actively recruiting students for their faculty nurse program and is seeing a strong response.”
“More nurses are becoming interested in the faculty role,” Martin said. “There are also many interested in taking on roles of greater responsibility, such as nurse practitioners who are becoming a more critical resource in providing primary care. They will need someone who can teach them, and we are preparing those teachers.”
Samford offers online classes to make their program available not only to students in Alabama, but also to nurses across the country who are interested in pursuing advanced degrees in nurse education.
“Since much of the coursework can be online, students only need to come to the campus three to four times in the master’s program and once per semester for the doctoral program,” Martin said.
In addition to the Samford grants, the Nurse Faculty Loan Program also awarded grants to two other Alabama nursing schools for the 2012 – 2013 academic year. UAB School of Nursing received $$292,686 and the University of South Alabama School of Nursing was awarded $95,098 to help fund their nurse education programs.
Martin credits NFLP grants with helping Samford attract high quality students for their program and for making it more financially feasible for those interested in teaching to pursue advanced degrees that will allow them to enter the field
“Last year, there were 1100 faculty vacancies nationwide, and many other positions were identified that needed to be created, but couldn’t be for lack of anyone to teach in them,” Martin said. “Without more teachers, enrollment in nursing schools can’t increase fast enough to keep up with demand. Increasing the number of qualified nurse educators is essential to the future of healthcare. That’s where these federal dollars from the NFLP program are making a critical difference.”
Nurses interested in learning more about NFLP grants and pursuing an advanced degree in nurse education can go to www.samford.edu/nursing, call 205-726-2047, or contact the schools of nursing at UAB or the University of South Alabama
