Nursing Organization Calls For New Program Resources
March 04, 2009
By the Online Nursing Career Content Team – Find Top Nursing Programs Online!
A leading nursing organization is warning that part of the nation's shortage may be due to too many qualified applicants being turned away from nursing schools.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, almost 50,000 qualified applicants to professional nursing programs were turned away in 2008, including 6,000 who had applied to advanced degree programs.
The situation was said to be due to a number of factors ranging from funding cuts, limited program sizes and clinical space, and fewer available faculty.
"All efforts to end the nursing shortage and enhance the pipeline of nursing students must focus on addressing these serious concerns," said AACN president Fay Raines in a statement, citing strong nationwide interest in the nursing field in general.
The organization notes that the number of nursing program enrollments did still increase 2.2 percent in 2008, even though this still falls short of meeting future projected needs. Instead, the group says the current crop of nursing students needs to grow by about thirty percent.
In other findings, the nationwide acceptance rate to nursing programs was said to be 42.3 percent, with just over 200,000 students enrolled nationwide in programs of all levels.
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