[Nurse Preceptor's Role]

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this chance for thanking my research facilitator, friends & family for support they provided & their belief in me as well as guidance they provided without which I would have never been able to do this research.

DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

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Table of content

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Introduction1

Significance of the Study3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Nursing Shortage: Nursing Faculty4

Nursing Shortage: Supply and Demand Factors6

Nursing Shortage: Social Factors7

Nursing Shortage: Attrition9

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY11

Research Design11

Literature Search11

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS12

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION15

REFERENCES18

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction

In reaction to the estimates of a shortage of nearly 500,000 registered nurses by the year 2025, federal and state monies have been allocated to attempt to stem the impending shortage. There is, however, no deficiency in supply of potential nursing students. In the 2006-2007 school year, 42,000 prospective nursing students were turned away from United States nursing schools due to lack of open student nurse spaces. Programs designed to increase nursing enrollment, expand nursing educational programs, graduate nurses faster, and produce more nurse educators in order to educate more nurses faster have been instituted across the United States. Nursing student recruitment and retention efforts call for new approaches to nursing education that target the needs of a modern generation of nurses. This is a challenge for nursing education's traditionalists. (Alberta Association of Registered Nurses, 2003)

The current nursing shortage is not the first nursing shortage in United States history, nor is it the only time that the education of nurses has come into question. From the establishment of the first school of nursing, the field of nursing education has struggled to define educational objectives, delineate curriculum priorities, and adjust to the changing demands of the medical profession and of society in general. Historically, nursing education is more reactive to forced change then proactive to introduce change.

Nursing shortages are attributed to social factors in a classic supply and demand model. World War I, World War II, and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam prompted nursing shortages. As men shipped overseas, traditionally male jobs were left vacant in the States opening up new career options for women, drawing women away from the nursing profession. Simultaneously, the number of nurses needed to address war time casualties increased demand for nurses. In the second half of the 20th Century, the advent of Medicare and Medicaid programs and advances in medical technologies resulted in increased access to healthcare and a demand for more nurses. (Frank, 2002)

There are financial, ethical, and medical rationale for exploring alternative forms of flexible, affordable, efficient, and effective nursing education. Innovative methods of educating nurses that have emerged in the last decade include the use of simulated patient experiences, incorporation of active learning, the use of reflection, ...