Record numbers of students are applying to nursing school, but who will be there to teach them?

For years, experts have warned of the consequences of healthcare professional shortages, and it should be a relief to see many students interested in nursing programs. However, many facilities, such as Fitchburg (MA) State College, are having to turn nursing students away because there’s no one available to teach them.

There are two main reasons nurses don’t turn their careers towards teaching, says The Worcester Business Journal. First, a new graduate RN usually earns more working his or her first job in a hospital than a nurse with a master’s degree earns teaching. Second, while nurses in a hospital can come home and relax after an eight or 12-hour shift, teachers usually bring their work home with them.

In response to this, administration at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA, raised nursing faculties’ pay $4,000, even though it didn’t raise the salaries of faculty in other areas of the school.

Still, nursing schools find it hard to recruit teachers. In response, the U.S. Department of Education developed a tool that helps match nursing students with programs that have spots available. This helps ensure that quality nursing students who got turned away because of a shortage of faculty can find programs with room available.

Have you seen any schools with creative ways to draw in nursing faculty?