New AACN Data Show the Impact of the Economy on the Nurse Faculty Shortage

Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing`s Future and AACN Select Five New
Minority Scholars to Boost the Nurse Faculty Population

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
New data collected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
show that the downturn in the economy may be impacting the nurse faculty
shortage by lowering the national vacancy rate. Based on data received from 554
schools of nursing in the U.S. with baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs
(70.2% response rate), the nurse faculty vacancy rate in 2009 was 6.6%, down
from 7.6% in 2008. Many schools point to changes in faculty retirement patterns
and hiring freezes at academic institutions as reasons for this presumably
short-term easing of the shortage.

"Though AACN is pleased to see a lower faculty vacancy rate this year, we fully
expect the shortage of nurse educators to re-emerge when the U.S. economy
rallies and faculty retirement patterns resume," said AACN President Fay Raines.
"Over the next 15 years, workforce analysts project that the nation`s nursing
shortage will grow twice as large as any shortage experienced in this country
since the mid-1960s, and this will no doubt impact the supply of nurse faculty."

Since 2000, AACN has collected data from member schools of nursing to assess the
current state of the faculty shortage. The survey collects data on budgeted, but
unfilled full-time faculty positions by rank, tenure, and level of teaching.
This year, AACN opened the Faculty Vacancy Survey to both member and non-member
schools to enhance our understanding of this issue. In July 2009, 803 faculty
vacancies were identified at 310 nursing schools with baccalaureate and/or
graduate programs across the country. Besides these vacancies, 117 schools cited
the need to create 279 additional faculty positions to accommodate student
demand. The latest data show a national nurse faculty vacancy rate of 6.6% with
most of the vacancies (90.6%) for faculty positions requiring or preferring a
doctoral degree. The top reasons cited by schools having difficulty finding
faculty were noncompetitive salaries compared to positions in the practice arena
(32.2%) and the limited pool of doctorally-prepared faculty (30.3%). To review
the 2009 survey findings, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/IDS/pdf/vacancy09.pdf.

Nursing schools report that the drop in faculty vacancies this year is due in
part to the nation`s struggling economy. To maintain household income, fewer
faculty are retiring, and many schools are facing budget cuts and hiring freezes
which makes it difficult to grow their faculty pool. This pattern is similar to
what is occurring in the registered nurse (RN) workforce, which has stabilized
over the past few months. For example, many retired nurses are returning to work
to maintain family income, and nurses considering retirement are holding onto
their jobs. Some hospitals have instituted hiring freezes and are reducing
services, which have released some experienced nurses back into the applicant
pool. These developments, however, are not adding new nurses into the workforce
to fill RN positions that are being created. Analysts with the Bureau of Labor
Statistics project that more than 587,000 new RN positions will be created by
2016. For more information, see AACN`s talking points on the Impact of the
Economy on the Nursing Shortage:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/pdf/TalkingPoints.pdf.

Five Minority Nurse Faculty Scholarship Winners Selected

The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing`s Future - AACN Minority Nurse
Faculty Scholars Program was launched in September 2007 to support full-time
minority students enrolled in graduate nursing programs. This program invites
applications from students in master`s and doctoral programs who will serve as
nurse faculty after completing their degree programs. Scholarship recipients
were selected by a 10-member application review committee, and awards in the
amount of $18,000 each will be disbursed this fall. This program provides
financial support, leadership development, and mentoring for the faculty role.
Joining the ten scholars previously selected for this prestigious honor are the
following individuals:

* Maria Garrido, DNP candidate, University of Miami
* Andrea Gilmore, PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
* Elizabeth Lopez, PhD candidate, Azusa Pacific University
* M. Melanie Lyons, PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania
* Yasemin Turkman, PhD candidate, Yale University

"AACN applauds the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for sharing our commitment to
enhancing diversity in the nurse faculty population," added Dr. Raines. "These
outstanding young scholars show exceptional promise and are well on their way to
becoming excellent faculty members and future leaders of the profession."

Profiles of all 38 Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars funded through the Johnson &
Johnson Campaign for Nursing`s Future program and a similar initiative funded by
The California Endowment are posted online at
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/minorityfaculty.htm.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
Robert Rosseter, 202-463-6930, x 231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu

Copyright Business Wire 2009