December 9, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The United States has a nursing shortage that is expected to increase as baby boomers age and health care needs continue to grow. The increase in the number of nurses needed also is driven by technological advances in patient care, which permit a greater number of health problems to be treated, and by an increasing emphasis on preventive care. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that more than 1 million new and replacement nurses will be needed by 2016 and of these, more than 587,000 will be new nursing positions.

Because of the nature of the work nurses perform, they are one of the most important professionals in the medical field today, and the work of one nurse can affect the lives of thousands of people. Nurses often are the first medical professional a patient comes into contact with and one of the people a patient has the most contact, making their work emotional and psychological, as well as medical.

The term nurse is general and there are many different paths a nursing student may take on the way to a career. That is one of the great advantages of the field - there are many areas of specialization, and the ways in which one can have a rewarding career in nursing are numerous.

"Nursing is a career for a lifetime," said Doreen Harper, Ph.D., dean of the UAB School of Nursing. "There are countless opportunities for nurses to practice in hospitals, patients' homes, in ambulatory clinics, in communities, in private practice in physician offices, in schools. Right now there is a shortage of nurses. Because we have so many people that are going to be aging with chronic diseases and that have very complex care needs, we are going to need more nurses to take care of the aging baby boomers. The patients in our hospitals today are critically ill and they need nurses that can manage the highly complex care and the technical care as well as attend to high quality compassionate care for patients and their families. Nursing is the most satisfying, exciting career you can choose. As long as you have a desire to work with people, have a love of the sciences, and desire to make a difference in people's lives at a time when they need you most, a career in nursing is for you."

Harper said growth areas include nursing positions in physician offices, home-health settings and long-term care facilities. "High acuity nurses - critical care units, emergency rooms, operating rooms, and geriatric nurses - are other specialties that are areas of particular need," she added.

There also are teaching and research avenues for students who become registered nurses and go on to earn graduate degrees. One area of continuing growth is at the faculty level because not only is there a shortage of nurses in clinical settings, there also is a shortage of nurse faculty in nursing schools to teach new nurses.

"Many of our faculty in the schools of nursing will be aging out of the workforce in the next 10 years and there will be a dearth of new nurse faculty, so it is critical to prepare the next generation of nurse faculty so that we can have the next generation of nurses," Harper said. "Schools of nursing have tremendous need for faculty with the clinical knowledge, skills and competencies to teach students."

Harper said UAB nursing students are well positioned to learn about all aspects of the field because of the diverse clinical, teaching and research experiences UAB students will learn from some of the best - UAB is one of the most highly renowned academic health science centers in the country; the UAB School of Nursing is one of the top-ranked schools of nursing in the country and the top ranked school of nursing in the state.

"We are top ranked because we have exceptional clinical resources; we share a campus with UAB Hospital and the UAB Health System, with the Children's Hospital of Alabama and the VA Hospital that all offer our students tremendous clinical learning opportunities," Harper said. "We also have a very talented faculty who not only are at the top of their game in teaching and innovative teaching strategies and programs, but they also practice as advanced practice nurses, as nurse practitioners and nursing executives in clinical settings, bringing their clinical knowledge to the forefront of their teaching. A number of our faculty also are nurse scientists who are conducting research that informs practice and improves the quality of patient care."