UNMC's program to combat nurse decline

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Interesting: Daily Nebraskan - UNMC?s nursing education program aims to combat nurse decline

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is nursing nurses to become teachers.

For years, the nursing profession has been hampered by an increased demand for services that can’t be met by the supply of people.

Such a crippling shortage, two UNMC faculty members said, stems from an even greater lack of nurses qualified to teach aspiring ones.

With a $616,500 federal grant, UNMC is creating an educational track to help nurses teach the profession, thus eventually giving nursing programs the ability to accept more students if resources allow.

“People are very excited about this grant,” said Connie Visovsky, an associate professor of nursing at UNMC. She added that about 75 of the medical center’s graduate students said last year in a survey that they’d be interested in teaching.

In fall 2008, the College of Nursing’s Omaha division turned away 36 out of 75 qualified applicants. The roughly 50 percent acceptance rate “is primarily related to a faculty shortage,” said Sarah Thompson, associate dean of the College of Nursing’s academic programs.

Because the college’s educators aren’t getting any younger, the grant came at a pivotal time.

The average age of UNMC’s nursing faculty is 53, with several instructors reaching into their 60s, said Visovsky, who cited national statistics that predict 75 percent of current educators in the field will retire by 2019.

Across its four divisions, the College of Nursing employs about 125 faculty members, Thompson said.

A surge in retirement will hit UNMC particularly hard when the recession subsides, Thompson said. Faculty members who are of age to retire haven’t done so in light of the economy, she said, but when conditions improve, “There’ll be a huge exodus.”

Like nurses, the general population is aging, putting a strain on medical professionals. Baby boomers are living longer with chronic illnesses than have past generations, and they require more acute care. That’s all the more reason to beef up the stock of nursing educators, Thompson said.

While the new track has generated buzz around the medical center, luring nurses away from practice and into the classroom may be a challenge.

“Salaries in academia are just not as competitive as they are in service,” Visovsky said, which steers nurses away from teaching and ultimately leads to a shortage of nurses in general.

But UNMC is optimistic. At least 15 students are expected to enroll in January for the new track, which consists of four courses (12 credits) in teaching, learning strategies, curricula development and the use of technology in education.

“I think we’ll have a good group in January,” Thompson said.

Because the courses can be completed relatively quickly in conjunction with master’s and doctoral degrees, Visovsky said she’s confident “we’re going to start making an impact right away.”