There undoubtedly exists a need for change in the current education programs for nurses. As the news of the nursing shortage has spread, many have become interested in pursuing nursing as a career. According to the National League of Nursing, since 2003 the number of applicants has increased to a total of 57%. Despite this upward trend, nursing shortages still exist and one of the major problems is within nursing education. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing found that U.S nursing schools rejected almost 49,948 qualified applicants in the last year. Of these rejected applicants 41,385 were turned away from entry-level baccalaureate, 1,659 from RN-to-BSN, and 1,002 from doctoral programs. (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/NewsRelease/2009/workforcedata.html) The large number of rejections is due to a number of factors including insufficient number of faculty, admission seats, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/government/pdf/CapGrants.pdf) With that being said, the number one reason found for not accepting these applicants was faculty shortages, with 62 % of nursing schools reporting this as the main issue. In a study done by the National League of Nursing in 2006 it was estimated that the number of budgeted, unfilled, full-time positions countrywide was 1,390. The baccalaureate and higher degree programs had a 7.9 % vacancy rate (32% increase since 2002), and the associates degree programs had a 5.6 % vacancy rate (a 10% increase since 2002). Within one year the problem got worse, with a study in 2007 showed that country-wide there was more than 1,900 unfilled, full-time faculty positions, affecting over 1/3 of all nursing schools. (http://www.nln.org/governmentaffairs/pdf/NurseFacultyShortage.pdf) As this problem directly contributes to the issue of nursing shortages, Congress has begun the legislative process for this bill to increase enrollments in nursing schools to meet projected workforce demands.
The objectives of this bill include "(1) establishing or significantly expanding an accelerated baccalaureate degree nursing program designed to graduate new nurses in 12 to 18 months; (2) establishing cooperative interdisciplinary training between schools of nursing and other specified health related fields; (3) increasing admissions, enrollment, and retention of qualified individuals who are financially disadvantaged; (4) increasing enrollment of minority and diverse student populations; (5) increasing enrollment of new graduate baccalaureate nursing students in graduate programs that educate nurse faculty members; (6) developing post-baccalaureate residency programs to prepare nurses for practice in specialty areas where nursing shortages are more severe; and (7) increasing integration of geriatric content into the core curriculum." (http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_497.html)
Political influences include the backing from various nursing organizations. Some of these organizations are the American Nurses Association, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American College of Nurse Practitioners, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, American Organization of Nurse Executives , Association of State & Territorial Directors of Nursing, Association of Women's Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses, Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association, National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, National Student Nurses’ Association, Visiting Nurse Associations of America. These organizations are advocating the need for an increased number of nursing faculty in order to allow more students to participate in nursing school. With so many qualified applicants, turning them away is not only detrimental to the students and their schooling but also to the hospitals that are in need of more nurses.
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