Teaching opens new doors

Abstract

There’s a crisis in nursing. For some time now we've known about the shortage of nurses; however, we've been paying less attention to another crisis: the shortage of nurse educators. According to the National League for Nursing (NLN), approximately 1,390 budgeted, vacant, full-time faculty positions exist nationwide. Since 2002, the vacancy rate in baccalaureate and higher degree programs has increased 32% (soaring to a 7.9% vacancy rate) and 10% for associate degree programs (growing to a 5.6% vacancy rate).1 The faculty shortage has profoundly impacted the general nursing shortage. Without nurse educators, our ability to reverse the shortage of practicing nurses is severely compromised. Therefore, it's timely to undertake a discussion of the educator shortage's origins, the benefits of becoming a nurse educator, and the types of career development opportunities that are available.