• Nursing Shortage Rearing Its Head Again

    The nursing shortage was never resolved. It was sort of put on hold when the economy tanked. Nurses of the Baby Boom generation were poised to retire, but the majority of them were forced to continue working for financial survival. Others had to return to work in order to make it through some of the toughest economic times ever. The impact has been that new grad nurses have had an impossible time finding work; something that has been unheard of for several decades. Now that the economy is in a recovery mode, Baby Boomers are retiring and the shortage of nurses is becoming a nightmare. The severity of the situation…

  • Shortage of Nurse Educators Continues to Keep Students out of Nursing schools

    The nursing shortage affects us all. And the even bigger problem is the shoratge of nurse educators. In these lean economic times when so many are out of jobs, it seems even more cruel that over 48,000 qualified students were turned away from nursing programs in 2008-9. In just six years’ time there will be a need for over 580,000 new nurses, not to mention about 425,000 replacements. Read more….

  • Nurses Willing to Teach Can Earn Grants

    The nursing shortage continues to grow despite the economic crisis causing many nurses to delay retirement or return to work. Many pundits fear that when the economy recovers, the nursing shortage will increase as Baby Boomer nurses finally do retire, possibly in droves. President Obama has been working with the ANA to help divert this crisis and to educate more nurses as quickly as possible. But one of the biggest problems is the lack of nurse educators. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been exploring ways to increase the number of nurse educators and is now offering grant monies in some states to help recruit students who will commit to…

  • From the NLN a Call to Your Representatives RE: Title VIII Funding

    I’m forwarding along an email I received from the National League for Nursing. This is a very important issue to all nurses as educating new nurses is vital to reducing the shortage of nurses…. “Dear Colleague” Letter on Title VIII Funding Circulating in House — Signatures Needed by Tuesday, March 31, 2009 TO: ALL NURSES Representatives Lois Capps (D-CA) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter seeking support of their fellow Representatives to fund Title VIII – Nursing Workforce Development Programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at a level of $215 million for FY 2010. They need to get as many of their House…

  • Summit to Discuss Nursing Shortage and Faculty Shortage

    On June 26 and 27, 2008, AARP, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor will hold a summit at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA to discuss the shortage of nurses and the shortage of nurse educators. The goal is to find solutions to the shortage of nurses and to improve nursing education capacities throughout the country. Every year thousands of qualified nursing students are turned down by nursing programs across the country due to the shortage of nurse educators. Many schools have long waiting list for nursing students. It will be very interesting to hear what ideas and solutions they come up with.…