NLN Faculty Census Survey of Schools of Nursing Academic Year 2020-2021: Executive Summary

Abstract

The survey indicates that nurse educators’ underrepresented populations and gender diversity increased slightly. It is encouraging to note a slight increase in the percentage of men as nurse educators. The results also revealed that most nurse educators are older, leading to a continuing need to increase the pool of educators to meet increasing demands. Another study projected that one third of nurse faculty active in 2015 would retire by 2025 (Fang & Kesten, 2017). The retirement of nurse faculty will have an enormous impact on the nurse faculty workforce, worsening the current shortage (National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, 2020). The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022) projects the employment of registered nurses to grow 9 percent from 2020 to 2030, hence the need to educate more nurses to meet the demand. The survey results indicate that budgeted, unfilled faculty positions continue to exist in most nursing schools because of factors including a shortage of qualified candidates and the inability to offer competitive salaries. The shortage of nursing faculty continues to be a major obstacle to recruiting and educating students, which contributes to nursing workforce shortages. Continued support for Title VIII funding is critical to addressing the faculty shortage in nursing programs.