CHARLESTON S.C.
South Carolina nursing school administrators say the major roadblocks to training more nurses is a shortage of faculty and facilities.
Peggy Hewlett, dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, said to meet the demand for nurses that will be brought on by the aging baby boomer population, the state’s programs need to increase the number of nurses who graduate each year by 20 percent.
The aging boomers create a twofold problem: More nurses will be getting to retirement age and the aging population will need more health care services.
The problem is not finding students who want to be nurses, but finding people to teach them and places where they can get the needed hands-on experience.
A nurse with a master’s degree and extensive experience can make up to $100,000 a year in a clinical setting, said Gail Stuart, dean of the College of Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina. That same person would earn about $30,000 a year less as a nursing instructor.
“It’s going to take some dollars,” Stuart said of increasing the ranks of nursing instructors.
