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Nursing battles a double deficit

Eight years later, Edwards, 32, is one of 13 students enrolled in the University of South Florida's new program for certified registered nurse anesthetists.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 22, 2007

TAMPA - As his wife pushed, Jason Edwards watched the nurses in the birthing room.

Edwards, then a drugstore photo lab technician, was in awe at how they attended to his wife. In them, he saw his future.

"I was just a lab tech, but decided I wanted to do more," said Edwards, of New Port Richey.

Eight years later, Edwards, 32, is one of 13 students enrolled in the University of South Florida's new program for certified registered nurse anesthetists.

But his ultimate goal is to earn a doctorate so he can teacher future aspiring nurses.

That's welcome news to administrators in USF's College of Nursing. Like other Florida nursing programs, USF is trying to boost the thin ranks of nursing faculty even as it sends new nurses into the field with bachelor's and master's degrees.

This two-pronged approach is key, administrators say, to curing the nation's nursing shortage.

USF's newest strategy for turning out more faculty is a doctor of nursing practice DNP program, the first to be established in Florida and one of the first in the nation.

It gives students a doctorate they can use to either practice nursing at the highest level or to teach. Unlike traditional doctorate programs that emphasize research, this one focuses on applying knowledge to patients and students.

USF used nearly $1.8-million in state grant money to start the program, and the first 14 students are expected to graduate in May.

"We think the DNP is really going to help with the teaching shortage," said program founder Mary Webb, head of USF's graduate nursing program. "The DNP is attractive because some nurses want a doctorate, but they don't just want to do research."

Nursing college officials say the lack of doctoral-level faculty is a major factor in the national nursing shortage, but gets little attention.

Colleges' long lists of rejected applicants show there is no shortage of aspiring nurses. The real problem is finding professors to teach them. Existing faculty are nearing retirement age, and younger professors aren't coming in to replace them.

Faculty ranks thinning

The mean age of doctoral faculty rose from 49.7 in 1993 to 54.3 in 2004, and for master's-level faculty it went from 46 years old to 49.2, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Meanwhile, the number of young faculty is decreasing. Between 1993 and 2004, the number of doctoral faculty between 36 and 45 declined by 19.4 percent.

Without qualified instructors, universities and colleges can't expand their programs and admit more students.

"We turn away two or three qualified students for every student we are allowed to take," said Kathleen Ann Long, dean of the University of Florida College of Nursing. "These are qualified students, but the fact is we don't have enough faculty."

A 2005-06 survey found that more than 41,000 applicants were turned away from bachelor's, master's and doctoral nursing programs in the United States. Almost 75 percent of the universities surveyed said they denied admission because of faculty shortages.

The result: By 2010, there will be as many as 1-million nursing vacancies in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"If we don't address the faculty shortage with serious effort, and effort right now, then over the next five years the problem with the nursing shortage will get much worse," said UF's Long.

Good salary in nursing

Webb said nurses today can make very good money, so persuading them to dedicate their lives to academia isn't easy.

For example, a nurse anesthetist can make as much as $151,000 a year, compared to an associate professor, who typically makes less than $100,000.

"It's getting so that some of them make more than M.D.'s," said Webb, the nursing college's associate dean for academic affairs.

USF's doctor of nursing practice program, launched in fall 2005, aims to lure students back to the classroom.

They can apply their knowledge to a clinical setting or they can return to the classroom to teach, Webb said.

UF began a similar program this fall, and the University of Central Florida board of trustees is considering establishing a doctor of nursing practice program.

Fast-track programs

Meanwhile, universities are launching and expanding master's-level programs that qualify graduates for some teaching positions. They also are trying to make it easier for students with bachelor's degrees in nursing to earn doctorates.

UF has a fast-track program that moves students directly from bachelor's to doctoral degrees, and it provides scholarship and stipends to help cover living expenses.

Colleges like USF also continue to encourage admission into traditional doctorate programs.

Christine Bouchard, 44, is head of the nursing program at South University, a private college that recently opened a campus in Tampa where students can earn bachelor's degrees in health science and nursing.

Bouchard is a certified nurse practitioner with 21 years in the field and two master's degrees from USF. Now she is studying for a traditional research-based nursing doctorate from her alma mater.

Bouchard said she loves nursing, but the classroom is where she belongs.

"I've always wanted to get my Ph.D."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3403 or svansickler@sptimes.com

Fast Facts:

Faculty shortage

Here's what Florida colleges are doing to train more future faculty:

The University of South Florida partners with Bethune-Cookman to enroll students in USF's recently launched Doctor of Nursing Practice program. The goal is to train more minorities as faculty and high-level nurses.

Students at Florida State University, Florida A&M University, the University of North Florida and the University of West Florida can earn a doctorate in nursing science at sites in Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Pensacola. The programs partner with the University of Florida, which has one of the state's oldest doctoral nursing programs.

UF has a bachelor's to doctorate program that fast-tracks students from their undergraduate to doctoral degrees.

FSU nursing students can earn a doctorate through the University of Florida.

[Last modified January 22, 2007, 00:27:17]