Shortage of Nursing Faculty

To be able to deal with the critical shortage of nursing faculty, to improve the work of the nurses, and to speed up the completion of the degree of graduate students, the Michigan Nursing Corps will give over $1.1 million grants to Michigan State University’s College of Nursing. To instruct nurses in Michigan, there will be additional nurse faculty and the existing financial support to students in the college, masters, and doctoral programs will be provided. Moreover, assistance will be given to those students hastened from the bachelor’s of science second level and who were laid off from their jobs in Michigan. As an appreciation to the financial support given to graduate students and to permit them to teach, they will sign a 5-year contract to handle Michigan nursing education programs and to practice in a hospital or health care institution. Mary Mundt, the Dean of the College of Nursing said that the College of Nursing is pleased with the accessibility of this support for their students and they are indebted to the governor for the dream to support the training of nursing faculty.

The Michigan Nursing Corps grants include the following learning programs:

• Doctor of Philosophy - $744,200 will be given to students who will be able to complete the degree in two years time.
• (MAN) Master of Science in Nursing with Nursing Education Concentration - $299,000 will be given to support students who can accomplish the program in one year.
• Accelerated Second Degree BSN - $82,500 will be given to those students who were laid off from their jobs in Michigan and who will be able to finish the program in one year.

The Michigan departments of Community Health and Labour and Economic Growth support the Nursing Corps. According to Jeanette Wrona Klemczak, Michigan’s Chief Nurse Executive, this a big success for MSU which implies the hard work exerted by the dean and her team to update the nursing field. Because of the reduction in the number of clinical instructor, almost thousands of eligible students are included on program’s waiting lists; at present, Michigan is experiencing deficiency of both nurses and nurse educators. [via]