Current Issues in Nursing Education
Current Issues in Nursing Education (term paper and presentation
· Develop a research-based paper addressing what you consider to be a critical issue/topic in nursing education.
· Indicate why you chose this particular issue/topic, and its relevance to nursing education and nurse educators.
· Address the issue/topic from an historical perspective, while systematically identifying and analyzing all components of the issue/topic.
· Fully discuss the impact of your particular issue/topic on all constituencies in nursing today.
· Address legal, ethical and regulatory elements as they relate to the issue/topic.
· Synthesize the literature related to the issue/topic and establish a sustained. And defensible argument to support your recommendations and conclusions.
FACULTY SHORTAGE
There is a disappointing faculty shortage that has been plaguing the nursing industry for a long time. The notable shortage of nurse educators in the United States is a critical problem that impacts the nursing shortage directly. As well as, in the long run, patient safety. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, in 2016, more than 64,000 qualified applicants have turned away from nursing programs due to a 7.9% national nurse faculty vacancy (Mangine, 2018). Additionally, academic salaries are not as competitive as they
should be, especially at public educational institutions. Between tuition, forgone income during education, and salary differences, nurse educators face quite a financial burden.
It is important to note that nurse educators serve an essential role within the hospital system. Having professional nurses trained to deliver information to other nurses, who convey critical and lifesaving knowledge is essential to a hospital’s success is a significant process. A nurse educator can help mitigate mistakes, identify opportunities to improve, and mitigates risks to the patient, nurse, and hospital.
the health care system
Nurses make up the largest sector of the health care system, with over 3.1 million RNs nationwide. Even with this astounding number, the nursing field is still in jeopardy of not being adequate to care for the expected high number of the aging population. The number of nurse educators has dwindled, and in turn, fewer people who desire to become nurses cannot enter nursing programs since they do not have enough faculty to fill nurse educator positions.
The key to alleviating the shortage lies not only in the number of qualified nursing applicants but in the number of nursing faculty available. Without quality educators, nursing will not survive the reduction of qualified nurses. Nursing education is the leader of the nursing profession as a whole because it all has to start with proper education. If nurses and other health care professionals do not get the right training, then our industry will not thrive.
