Posts Tagged ‘Healthcare Careers’
Insights into the Nursing Faculty Shortage
Registered nurses are trained to care for patients while also assessing medical conditions, and administering treatment and medications. They are employed in hospitals, physician’s offices, long term care facilities and as home health aides. Nurses are becoming an increasingly important part of the healthcare system due to rising costs and growing demand. With the increasing need for nurses in the coming decades, it seems that the United States cannot produce enough nurses to fill the supply.
Healthcare careers are the fastest growing occupation in the country, and nursing tops the charts as the fastest growing occupation within the healthcare field. Why, then, are prospective nursing students being turned away from nursing schools? In the last year that statistics were available, it was estimated that nearly 16,000 students who were qualified to attend a nursing program were turned away. One reason for the shortage of registered nurses is the lack of faculty to instruct and train prospective nursing students. With a vacancy rate over 8 12% and rising, the faculty shortage limits the number of students who can become nurses.
Faculty shortages are not the only reason that prospective students are turned away from nursing schools. Budget constraints have limited school’s abilities to update classrooms and lab equipment. There is a shortage of clinical opportunities for students in many areas. While the state and federal government have taken aggressive steps to recruit nurses in advance of the growing need, with tuition help and improvement of working conditions, their efforts are stymied by the inability of colleges to meet the demands of a growing healthcare crunch.
Lack of faculty is a main factor in nursing shortage
In what is probably the biggest determining factor in how many students are accepted by a school, there are simply not enough nurses teaching at the college level. While some nursing classes, such as core mathematics and chemistry classes do not require a nurse, others do. In fact, a certain percentage of the positions requiring a nurse require that the nurse have a doctorate degree. In contrast, the number of nurses who are seeking their doctorate degree is relatively small. It is estimated that many of the unfilled faculty positions are those that require doctoral education.
Why the shortage of nurses with doctorate degrees? While receiving your doctorate in any field is an accomplishment, it is a simple fact that a nurse can become a nurse anesthetist, a midwife, or a nurse practitioner and make a larger salary and be in heavy demand. Even nursing faculty positions that require only a masters program must compete with the lucrative positions available in the private sector. Nursing specialists are widely used in many communities to provide care for those without access to a physician. These nurses are RNs, with their bachelor and masters degree. As a certified nurse practitioner, the nurse has a great deal of autonomy in her practice and is well compensated.
Because of the specialized nature of the degree, nurses that wish to receive their doctorate must often leave the area where they are and move to a more urban area. At the completion of their training, they often do not return. Many of the nurses that complete a doctorate program, as many as one-fourth, state at graduation that they have no plans to work in academics, and head straight to the clinical setting.
In the past, nursing instructors received a more competitive salary, but as the demand for nurses has increased in the private sector, their salaries have quickly outpaced the salaries of those in education. Now, as more nursing instructors reach retirement age, there is no one to fill their positions. Often nurses who have spent their entire careers in the educational setting enter the clinical setting to raise their income before retirement age.
What can be done?
The shortage of nursing faculty is a well documented and studied problem. With the demand for nurses increasing rapidly, it is important to find a way to increase the number of nurses who can be trained. Some plans are in place to help remedy the nursing shortage. Federal funds are being used for faculty development programs and to collect data on faculty vacancy rates.
Approaching retirement
With many nursing instructors reaching retirement age, the problem of nursing faculty shortages is not expected to go away. The problem creates a vicious cycle, with a growing demand for nurses in the clinical setting raising salaries and benefits. This draws even more nurses out of the academic setting. The shortage of faculty leads to a decrease in the number of students who are accepted into nursing programs. Again, this creates a greater shortage. It is estimated that the nursing shortage, in the clinical setting only, will grow by 6% a year. This shortage can be traced back to the shortage of nursing faculty members
Are You Considering a Job in Nursing?
Healthcare careers are booming and nursing is one of the fastest growing occupations projected in next 5 years. Qualified nurses are highly in demand, thus if you are considering a job in nursing, you definitely are in the right career path.
One thing to take note is nursing jobs are a time-honored profession and a nurse must be dedicated and diligent. You must be a kind of person who can give an extra ounce of energy in order to be successfully in your nursing career path.
There are many nursing career options for you to participate in and you can select a working environment that suits your tastes and preferences. Among the common nursing jobs are:
Hospital Nurse
Most of nurses are generally working at hospital but this is not the only option in nursing job field. We will explain other type of nurse jobs in next paragraph. A hospital nurse takes care of hospital patients. If you work as a hospital nurse, your daily care and interaction with the patient has a major impact on how fast the patient recuperates and on the patient’s attitude.
Private Duty Nurse
Private Duty Nurse is assigned to care a dedicated patient at hospital or at home. You will need to coordinate care between physician and family according to individual situations.
You will need to follow physician’s orders for medications, treatment and keeps accurate record of patient’s condition and reports to physician periodically. Beside the patient, a private duty nurse will also have the responsibility to educate the patient and the patient’s family on importance of maintaining proper diet and health habits.
Hospice Nurse
A Hospice Nurse assesses patient health problems and needs and works to develop and implement nursing care plans with the goal of patient comfort. A hospice nurse typically administers care to patients in a hospice, home or long term care facility.
Operating Room Nurse
An Operating Room Nurse must understand the use of modern operating room equipment, the type of procedure the doctor is doing and the kinds of tools the doctor will need. The nurse must be ready to assist the surgeon and the surgical team in their tasks. Other then that, an operating room nurse will also need to oversee the work organization within the operating theatre, and mediate between the various hospital departments, the surgeons, and the management.
Home Care Nurse
Other than the above nursing job, home care nursing is one of the major booming sectors in health care industry. Today, home health care nurses work in rural, suburban and urban areas, traveling from patient to patient to care for and monitor the patient’s needs and communicate with doctors and other medical staff. With the enhance of medical technology, home care nurses can now use mobile monitoring equipment to monitor everything from heart rate and blood pressure to blood sugar for diabetics and more, so the nurse can treat one patient and check on another one in the car on the way to visiting a third patient.
Earn Your Nursing Degree
In order to start your nursing career, you must be qualified in this field. Although you can start you nursing career as LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) or RN (Registered Nurse), a higher degree you are more employable, you will earn a higher salary, and you will have much more freedom to chart your own career path. Beside the traditional classroom-based nursing degree, now you can earn your nursing degree online. The major benefit of pursuing the nursing degree online is that you can attend the online class at any location and at your own schedule. And the best part is you can continue with you current job while getting your nursing degree online.
In Summary
If you think nursing is for you, look into local nursing schools or online universities that offer the related nursing courses and get started on the career path to nursing.