The healthcare sector in the United States of America is severely bogged down by a lack of nurses, which is due to an especially acute lack of educators. These two interrelated challenges that seek to hinder the way different healthcare facilities expand their healthcare sector to address increasing needs endanger the quality of patient care offered to patients. The states with the highest healthcare requirements are the most affected, New York, for instance. The Westchester County Association is one of the organizations that have come together to try and solve the problem of this crisis.
The Growing Crisis of Nursing and Faculty Shortages
According to the HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration), there is a projected shortage of 78,610 registered nurses (RNs) in 2025. This shortage is made worse by an inadequate supply of nursing faculty. According to the data released by the AACN (American Association of Colleges of Nursing), the national faculty vacancy rate is 7.9%, out of which more than 59% of nursing schools have vacant slots for full-time faculty. Therefore, nursing programs have to hold admission and deny an opportunity to thousands of qualified students each year, thus exacerbating the shortage of nurses.
Additional Read: The Enduring Challenge of the Nursing Shortage
Factors Contributing to the Faculty Shortage
The main cause of the nursing faculty shortage is a split wage differential between clinical and academic positions. Teachers are paid less than clinical nurses; therefore, they are not interested in the teaching discipline. These roles are also associated with a heavy workload, which leads to burnout. However, due to the retirement age of experienced faculty and the increasing trend of requiring nurse educators with doctoral degrees (approximately 79% of advertised vacancies), new pools of potential tutors are scarce.
Potential Solutions
The WCA and its partners have proposed the following strategies to solve the problems arising from the shortage of nursing faculty: increasing funds for faculty lines to address the equal salary issue, providing financial incentives represented by loan repayment programs, and others. Moreover, the WCA also supports increasing the opportunities for doctorates and increasing state funding of scholarships, housing allowances, and bonuses for nursing faculty members.
Dynamic Healthstaff is a healthcare staffing company whose services are paramount when it comes to addressing the nursing faculty. Because of our experience in healthcare, we can assist healthcare institutions in filling their vacancies. Maintaining limited staffing levels also presents the following problems, but our role in staffing solutions focuses on making the healthcare system more robust in the future. If you want to know more about our services, contact us today at enquiry@dynamichealthstaff.com or +919810017608.
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