| There is a critical shortage of nurses in the USA impacting every state and every type of health care setting. This shortage is expected to worsen in the next several decades unless changes are made. A recent AACN survey determined 5,283 qualified nursing applicants nationwide could not be admitted to Schools of Nursing due to insufficient numbers of nursing faculty to teach nurses. Since education precedes practice, until this shortage of nursing faculty is resolved, the nursing shortage will increase, compromising the health care of the nation. The purpose of this study was to assess Schools of Nursing in Indiana to determine: (1) What the projected faculty shortage will be for the next 5 yrs; (2) What are the greatest barriers of schools in recruiting faculty; and (3) What are the retention barriers for Schools of Nursing. Based on this assessment the investigator suggested a plan for the resolution of nursing faculty shortages. The tools for data collection included a descriptive cross-sectional survey with a demographic instrument and a nursing shortage assessment for 10 department heads and a faculty survey for 81 nursing faculty. Estimations of retention, attrition, procurement, and production of nursing faculty were forecasted through data analysis. Based on the data analysis, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis framework was developed. Using this framework, 11 initiatives were developed for the state of Indiana including (a) developing a nursing faculty recruitment task force, (b) requesting a state-level supplementation of nursing faculty salaries; (c) appointing nursing faculty within the health care industry, (d) increasing the number of online PhD programs for nursing, (e) developing programs to mentor new nursing faculty, and (f) adding incentives for retaining nurses past retirement age. The critical shortage of nurses is impacting the quality of healthcare in every setting. It is predicted to increase as the population ages and there are more citizens without access to healthcare. Systematic planning is needed nation wide to resolve this health care crisis. This study can be used as a model for other states to replicate to aid in identifying future faculty needs and to plan strategies to resolve nursing faculty shortages. |
