A new study shows a nationwide increase in students in nursing programs. However, a shortage of nursing instructors means qualified students still are being turned away.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing recently released preliminary survey data which show enrollment in entry-level nursing programs increased by 5 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Although the increase is welcome, the association is concerned about the 32,000 qualified applicants being turned away because of a shortage of nurse educators.

Stephanie Valdes, department chairwoman of nursing, allied health and health and physical education at Black Hawk College, said a shortage of nurse educators "definitely" is a problem for the college.

"If we had faculty, we could increase the number of students that we graduate," she said. "We can't find the faculty."

Black Hawk takes 40 nursing students in August and another 40 in January, but many students wait a semester or year to get into the program, Ms. Valdes said.

"It's kind of a constant problem," she said. "Most of our faculty have ended up doing really big overloads."

A report released in April projects that nursing schools must increase the number of graduates by 90 percent to address the nursing shortage. Although nursing schools are expanding capacity, the dwindling population of nurse faculty is making it hard for them to expand further.

Leanne Hullett, dean of the Trinity College of Nursing, said the college hopes to expand its associate’s and baccalaureate nursing programs.

"Right now, we take into our basic program about 45 students a year," she said. "We've held that fairly stable because we've been putting a lot of efforts into our BA program. That is something we're looking forward to in the future, increasing those numbers in both of those (programs)."

The college typically gets 55 to 60 applicants each year. Ms. Hullett said there are 10 faculty members on staff. "We would need to expand the faculty to increase numbers of students."

One challenge is that the state of Illinois requires nursing teachers to have a master's degree in nursing. In Iowa, nurses with a bachelor's degree can teach, Ms. Valdes said.

One of the problems is that nurses working in the community or in a hospital are paid better than nurse educators.

"There are a lot of people who are dedicated to the education of students, but unfortunately the salary is lower than their counterpart in clinical areas," Ms. Hullett said. "Pay is one of the things that need to be thought about and addressed."

The state of Illinois is starting several new initiatives to encourage more nurses to become nurse educators.

The state's 2007 budget includes $3.5 million to launch initiatives aimed at preventing a severe nursing shortage. Part of that money will go toward nursing educator scholarships to cover tuition, fees and living expenses for training nurse educators.

A nurse educator loan repayment program that allows current nurse educators to receive $5,000 in student loan forgiveness a year, for up to four years, will be up and running next year.

The initiative also includes changes to existing nursing scholarships to allow merit, in addition to financial need, to be taken into consideration when determining recipients.

Grants also will be available for nursing schools to use for student retention programs, increasing faculty, increasing clinical space, creating evening or weekend programs and tutoring programs for the national nursing licensing exam.

Another problem is that many nurse faculty members are retiring, Ms. Valdes said. She has replaced four or five people in her department in the last year because of retirement.

"People need to realize it's not just a shortage of nurses, it's faculty," Ms. Valdes said. "We can't do a thing about replacing nurses if we don't have the faculty."

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For more information visit:

www.trinityqc.com

www.bhc.edu

www.uic.edu/nursing/

Staff writer Amy Thon can be reached at (309) 786-6441, Ext. 208.