- One of the problems nursing schools is that many teachers are near retirement age. In a 2006 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Joanne Pohl, associate dean of nursing at the University of Michigan, pointed out that 40 percent of the tenured nursing faculty there was age 60 or older.
- More nursing schools and colleges require that nurse educators possess either master's or doctorate degrees in nursing before teaching. However, many of these degree-holders have left teaching in recent years to take non-academic positions, such as working in private practice or for nursing services.
- Dissatisfaction with the workplace and with the workload teaching requires is another reason cited by many nurse educators for leaving their positions.
- Salaries for clinical nursing positions have risen more than academic nursing salaries, leading more teachers to leave their positions.
- In response to the shortage of nursing teachers, colleges and universities are offering benefits for those who want to become educators, such as more flexible schedules and tuition assistance.
- Fewer nurse educators results in fewer clinical nursing graduates ready to enter the workforce. In the 2002-2003 academic year, nursing schools in the United States turned away more than 5,200 qualified nursing school applicants, mostly because they did not have enough teachers, according to a report by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
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