Need Help Research on Nursing Shortage

WDWpixieRN, RN · Feb 22, 2008

Do any kind of internet search on "Nursing Shortage" and there are no shortage of articles.

We had to do a presentation on this topic last semester and in addition to the internet, we did a search in our library's electronic database which contained NUMEROUS journal articles on this subject and containing any kind of reasons for the shortage you could possibly think of.

Good luck!!

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 22, 2008

If you want information on faculty salaries across the country, "The Chronical of Higher Education" is a weekly newpaper in the world of academia. I don't think it is available online unless you have a paid subscription. However, any college or university library would probably have hard copies of all the former issues -- and may have onlne versions available at the library itself.

Once a year (or is it every 2 years?) they discuss official surveys of faculty in all departments in all types of schools, all types of departments, etc. A lot of those links are from organizations of university faculty. You may have to go out of your way a little to get it, but the salaries are all there for you to find.

When considering faculty salaries across different departments within a university, you have to keep in mind that colleges and universities value education. They pay people more when they have higher levels of education. Unfortunately, many nursing faculty members do not have the PhD that is often required of people in the ranks of Assistant Professor and above. Nursing faculty are often in roles of lower rank, such as Instructor or Lecturer. That results in lower salaries.

For example, the first year Chemistry teacher may be a 28 year-old with a PhD, which qualifies him as an Assistant Professor. The 35 year-old Nursing teacher probably just has an MSN, which may limit her opportunites to move up the ladder beyond the rank of Lecturer. That Chemistry teacher will be an Associate Professor by the time he is 35 ... and get tenure ... and reach Full Professor rank in his 40's or 50's. Unless the Nursing teacher goes back to school and do some serious academic research, she may stay a Lecturer for her entire career -- or maybe rise to the level of Assistant Professor is she's lucky. The Chemistry guy is getting much of his salary (and perks) paid for by research grants. The school is generous with him because he is bringing all that grant money into the university. That Nurse never gets a major grant and has to rely exclusively on the schools operational budget for her entire salary and perks. She "costs" the school money while the Chemistry guy brings money in.

It's complicated ... full of things most people never think about.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Feb 23, 2008

Actually, I think it's a good thing to have a shortage of nursing instructors. It keeps demand high for nurses. Without a high demand, our salaries, poor as they are, would really be in the dumpster.