Abstract
The nation’s nursing shortage is predicted to worsen, as nurses retire (supply) and more patients have access to care with the full enactment of the Affordable Care Act (demand). Schools of nursing are under continuing pressure to increase enrollment in entry level nursing programs [1-4]. Nurse educators have been engaged in a variety of creative and innovative projects to increase enrollment with some success. A primary reason for the lack of educational capacity is the shortage of nursing faculty [3-7]. The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston School of Nursing undertook an innovative project to alleviate the nursing faculty shortage at that school. Working with a retired physician group, physician volunteers were solicited to teach in the laboratory portion of an undergraduate health assessment course. Twenty-two physicians volunteered in the first year in a class that involved forty baccalaureate students in their first-semester. The objectives of the project were twofold: First, to determine the suitability of retired physicians to serve as teachers of baccalaureate nursing students and second, ascertain possible monetary savings by using these physicians. Both of these goals were realized. The students valued the physicians’ enthusiasm, wisdom and experience and the cohort of physicians equaled the equivalent of four nursing faculty members. With an average annual faculty salary of $100,000, savings were significant.
Highlights
There is both an acute and chronic shortage of nurses in the United States [1,2,3,4]
The nation’s nursing shortage is predicted to worsen, as nurses retire and more patients have access to care with the full enactment of the Affordable Care Act
Working with a retired physician group, physician volunteers were solicited to teach in the laboratory portion of an undergraduate health assessment course
Summary
There is both an acute and chronic shortage of nurses in the United States [1,2,3,4]. Janiszewski determined that the four most important causes for the shortage were the aging workforce (In 1980, 25.1 percent of Registered Nurses were under the age of 30 compared to only 9.1 percent in 2000 [5]), declining enrollment in schools of nursing, the changing work climate, and the poor image of nursing [3]. There are many more career opportunities for women in the work force over the last quarter century, within the field of nursing itself [4]. The shortage is troublesome in Texas (Figure 1), and schools of nursing are under considerable pressure to increase enrollment in entry level nursing programs. There are adequate applicants for a field projected to need an increased labor force. Use of regularly employed nurses as preceptors, use of part-time or contract nursing faculty, use of “loaned faculty” by hospitals, etc. have been tried with varying levels of success and sustainability
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