Latest surveys project that the United States could fall short by close to half a million registered nurses by 2025 unless major action is taken. Currently, the supply of new nurses is failing to keep pace with rising patient demand, in part because a significant number of interested and qualified nursing school applicants have been turned away in recent years due to a growing shortage of nursing faculty.

South Carolina is affected by this alarming trend. Though applications to undergraduate nursing programs in the state have actually increased over the past few years, many potential students are being turned away because there aren't enough teachers to teach them.

Peggy Hewlett

Attracting nursing teachers is a problem largely because nurses who work in the classroom earn less--sometimes $20,000 to $30,000 less--than those who work in hospitals. A large number of nursing faculty retirements also is a factor.

Nursing leaders believe two new efforts will help to ease this shortage. One effort involves establishing graduate-level nursing scholarships.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation has provided $1.5 million to establish graduate-level nursing scholarships through the South Carolina Nurses Foundation. Distributed over three years, the grant will enable financial support for at least 30 nurses who will then become faculty in nursing education programs.

The program is designed to help people who want to earn higher degrees in nursing but can't afford to do so. Awardees must commit to teaching in a South Carolina nursing program for at least three years.

"Securing substantial scholarships for our graduate nursing students at both the master's and doctoral levels is one of our greatest challenges," said Peggy Hewlett, nursing dean. "This is really a wonderful gift to nursing in South Carolina. It will provide an opportunity for nursing scholars to attend school full-time and, in so doing, graduate more quickly into the teaching ranks.

The second effort involves the formation of a team that will advance solutions to nursing and nursing faculty shortages.

"Team South Carolina represents key stakeholders from throughout the state who have been involved in the One Voice, One Plan consortium that successfully spearheaded the 2007 Critical Nursing Needs Initiative Act," said Hewlett, Team South Carolina leader. "Our team will focus on strategies to address the nursing faculty shortage as called for in this landmark legislation and will come home with an action plan for how we might seek full funding for this important initiative."

South Carolina was selected by AARP, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Labor to participate in the first Nursing Education Capacity Summit in Washington, D.C. in late June. The goal of the two-day summit was to identify solutions to the nurse faculty shortage. Summit participants identified and developed approaches to improving nursing education capacity, with the ultimate goal of reversing the shortage.

More than 15 other states are participating. They will share best practices and focus on four key areas: strategic partnerships and resource alignment; policy and regulation; increasing faculty capacity and diversity; and education redesign.

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