• More nurses are needed. In 2014, there were 2.7 million RNs in the workforce. By 2024, 3.2 million RNs will be needed, an increase of 16%. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections)
• The current nursing workforce is aging. More than half (55%) of the RN workforce is over 50 years old and more than 1 million RNs will reach retirement age within the next 10-15 years. (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2019).

• Nationally, the average nursing faculty member is over 62 years old.
• Even as an increase in nursing faculty retirements quickly approaches, there are already vacancies in nursing programs reported across the country:
  • In 2018 the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published data from 800 schools across the nation, stating that 90.8% of vacant faculty positions required or preferred a doctoral degree. In the same year AACN also reported a 2% decrease in enrollments in nursing doctoral education programs.

• In the 2018-19 school year 75,029 qualified applicants were not accepted into nursing programs/schools. (American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s 2018-19 report of Enrollments and Graduations)
  • More than two-thirds of these schools reported faculty shortage as the major reason for this.
  • If the nursing faculty shortage is not addressed, it will be impossible for the nation to produce the number of nurses needed as the population continues to grow.

This web resource is designed to Lead Nursing Forward and help the nursing community address this shortfall before it is irreversible.

Read more about the team behind this project.

* References: (1) Supply and Demand Projections of the Nursing Workforce: 2014-2030, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, HRSA, Bureau of Health Workforce, National center for Health Workforce Analysis; (2) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Supply and Demand Projections for the Nursing Workforce: 2014-2030; (3) Keele & Alpert, 2015; (4) Fang & Kesten, 2017