Nursing shortage could be looming

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Nursing shortage could be looming / Your Severe Weather Station, South Bend, Indiana News, Weather, Sports, Notre Dame News, StormTeam 16

A friendly greeting, a check of the pulse—just a snapshot of what nurses do everyday.

They go to school around the area to learn a profession in high demand.
But with so many area schools that offer registered nursing programs, it's actually not potential nurses that are in need-it's the faculty to teach them.

"One of the things that works against us, quite frankly is salaries. The salary of a nursing professor is much lower than a salary of a nurse in a hospital,” said Mary Jo Regan-Kubinski, who is dean of nursing and health professions at Indiana University South Bend.

Also, instructors need a master’s degree in order to teach. Indiana University South Bend started a program this fall to address the issue.
Still, demand for nurses and those who teach them will continue to rise.
“As the baby boomers age and your life expectancy has increased, there is this continual need for more services within a hospital organization,” said Marsha King, chief nursing officer at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center.

Discuss this story here: Discuss Nursing shortage could be looming

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Another link to shortage, but a different area: WLBZ2.com | Bangor, ME | Nursing Students Face A Long Wait For School

PORTLAND -- Despite Maine's nursing shortage, nursing students still face a long wait before they can enter nursing school. Students at Southern Maine Community College have to spend at least 2 years on waiting list after they're accepted to school. And they can't apply until after they've finished a number of prerequisite courses.

The students we spoke with said the wait is no shorter anywhere else. The problem is that there aren't enough qualified teachers. The biggest need is for teachers who can teach in a clinical setting. Nursing instructors need to have a masters degree and a certain number of years of experience. Those nurses are also the same ones short-staffed hospitals really want to hire, too.

Hospitals and nursing programs are starting to work together to find a way to share some staff. But the chair of SMCC's nursing department, Nancy Smith, said she sees this problem getting worse before it gets better because so many baby boomers are retiring every year.