Addressing the Nurse Faculty Shortage by Supporting Evaluations, Generating Evidence and Disseminating Findings

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About Us and Program Overview
Funded Projects
- Our Grantees
Research Findings and Tools
Resources and News
- Key Publications, Resources and Nursing Initiatives
- News on Nursing Education
Contact Us
Grantees and Applicants Log In
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For Grantees and Applicants

Stats & Facts
- A recent analysis of the U.S. Census indicates that over the past 10 years the US has seen a 62% surge of young nurses aged 23 to 26, after the steady decline and prolonged shortage over the past two decades. This finding suggests that the broad-based, national efforts to attract young people into the nursing profession might have averted dire projections of critical shortages. While this is encouraging news, the authors of the study note that regional variation in supply, mismatched specialty training and demands (e.g., outpatient geriatric), and nurse faculty shortage continue to warrant attention and persistent efforts. Read more here or access the study (Auerbach et al., 2011). Even in light of these changes, the 2009 projection still holds that the U.S. nursing shortage is projected to grow to 260,000 registered nurses by 2025 (Buerhaus et al, 2009).
- According to AACN's Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions for Academic Year 2010-2011, the nurse faculty vacancy rate among baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in the U.S. is 7.7% (up from 6.9%), ending a multi-year trend towards fewer vacancies. The survey found a total of 1,088 faculty vacancies at 603 nursing schools with baccalaureate and/or graduate programs.
- The top reasons cited by schools having difficulty in finding faculty in AACN's Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions for Academic Year 2010-2011 were limited pool of doctorally prepared faculty (31.3%) and noncompetitive salaries (26.7%).
- Data from the AACN’s 2011 survey show that enrollment and graduation rates in the nation’s baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate programs continue to increase. Enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate programs in nursing increased by 5.1% in 2011. In particular, DNP and PhD programs saw marked increases in enrollment (28.9% and 7.9% in the past year, respectively). In addition, enrollment in RN-to-Baccalaureate programs also increased by 15.8%. Read more about the findings here
- The AACN 2011 survey reports that along with the increased enrollments in baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2011, more than 75,587 qualified applicants were turned away due to a shortage of faculty, clinical sites and resource constraints. This total includes more than 14,354 applicants turned away from graduate programs and 58,327 applicants turned away from entry-level baccalaureate programs. Read more here.
- Nearly one quarter (23.4 percent) of U.S. nursing programs of all types (including Associate Degree programs) reported receiving more qualified applications than could be accepted in 2008. Pre-licensure programs – which experienced greater rates of unmet demand for admissions – reported that lack of clinical placement settings were the biggest impediment to admitting more students. Post-licensure programs were more likely to cite a shortage of faculty as the main obstacle to expansion (NLN 2009 Annual Survey of Nursing Programs).
- HRSA’s report on The Registered Nurse Population: Findings from the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nursesfound significant growth in the number of RNs holding a master’s degree in nursing or a related field: during the period from 2000 to 2008, there was a 45.8 percent increase in RNs with master’s degrees, up from 257,812 in 2000 to 375,794 in 2008. The report also noted that in 2008 the number of RNs with a doctorate degree in nursing or a nursing-related field increased by 64.4 percent since 2000.
- HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions stresses that the shortage of nursing faculty will grow significantly in the near future with 60 percent of current faculty 50 years of age or older.
EIN Grantee Awards
- Seven grants (of up to $300,000 each) have been awarded since 2009.
- The first cycle of two-year funded projects ran from 2009-2011; this grant cycle is now closed. The second cycle of grants began in fall 2010 and will close fall 2012.
- The National Program Office is in the process of reviewing full proposals for a 3^rd cycle of funding. Awards will be announced in May 2012 and project work will begin in July 2012. Up to $1.8 million will be awarded during this round of funding for studies of up to 24 months in duration.
Check back often to learn about findings from grantee evaluation projects which will be posted here when they become available.

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© 2009 RWJF Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education
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