Most people in the United States are aware that there is a nursing shortage. The projected shortage of nurse managers and nursing faculty is not as well known. It can be argued that the responsibility for these shortages lies mainly within the nursing profession itself. A hierarchy exists within nursing that does not recognize good nurses unless they posses the proper “nursing degrees” and have “paid their dues” to nursing. The nurses who have the nursing degrees and have paid their dues, for the most part, do not recognize the nurses not meeting these requirements. Allow me to illustrate my point with the following 3 scenarios.
I have been a registered nurse (RN) for 11 years. I have worked mostly in the emergency department. I am a preceptor/mentor to new nurses and newly graduated nurses in my department. I am what can be called a nontraditional nurse in that I chose to obtain my bachelor's and master's degrees in non-nursing fields. I have a bachelor's degree in public administration with a health care management emphasis and a master's degree in public health.
After obtaining my bachelor's degree, I contacted the community college where I went to nursing school about becoming a clinical nursing instructor. A couple of months passed, and the dean notified me that I was not qualified to teach nursing students because I had not worked on a basic medical surgical floor at any time during my career as a nurse. Working in the emergency department for 11 years, working in the ICU, and being a flight nurse for 2 years did not qualify me for this position. This choice was not hers but that of the Board of Registered Nursing in the state of California, which requires clinical nursing instructors to have had some medical surgical experience. I was turned away.
The hospital where I work has a Clinical Ladder program. Despite my advanced degrees, I am only eligible for Clinical Ladder No. 1. In response to my request to have this policy reviewed, the nursing directors of the hospital voted against allowing nurses with non-nursing degrees, such as myself, from being eligible for advancement via the clinical ladder program. I was turned away.
Realizing I still wanted to teach, as I was finishing my master's degree, I contacted the School of Nursing at the University of California–Los Angeles to obtain information about their PhD program. I reviewed the qualifications over the phone with the recruiter. After learning about my bachelor's and master's degrees, the recruiter asked me if I was a nurse. She called me back a couple of hours later and informed me that because I did not have at least one of my advanced degrees in nursing I was not qualified to even apply to their PhD program. I was turned away.
It is estimated that by 2020 there will be a shortage of 340,000 nurses in the United States. There are a number of theories as to why this shortage exists. In a 2006 survey, 55% of nurses surveyed said they intended to retire between 2011 and 2020. The majority of these nurses were nurse managers. And who will fill these vacancies? Unfortunately, we do not have the infrastructure to train new aspiring nurses. In fact, nursing schools turned away 42,866 qualified applicants in 2006-2007. Among the reasons for this was the insufficient number of nursing faculty.
Nurses are the driving force to solve the shortage problems. Traditional views of nursing need to be abandoned. The Board of Registered Nursing in each state needs to review their basic requirements for becoming a nursing instructor. Acquiring an advanced degree in nursing does not make someone an excellent teacher, especially when it comes to nursing. Practical hands-on bedside experience counts more in nursing. Advanced degrees in any field teach the student to look more closely at the subject matter and to scrutinize it carefully with an educated eye. Lifting the strict requirements for admission into PhD in nursing programs can help solve the nursing faculty shortages. In light of the pending nurse manager shortage, current nurse leaders need to look within their facilities for nurses who stand out with strong leadership skills and encourage them to seek the necessary advanced education to prepare them for future leadership roles.
Nurses: Let's stop turning each other away and recognize our colleagues who not only have the necessary skills to advance but also the desire to teach future nurses and be future nursing leaders, no matter what degrees they hold.
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