Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow Launches Campaign to
Increase Number of Nurse Educators

INDIANAPOLIS, February 2004 - Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow, a coalition of 43 leading nursing and health care organizations addressing the nursing shortage, is launching a national advertising campaign titled "Nursing education ... pass it on."

The goal of the campaign is to increase the number of nurse educators -- a shortage of which is causing some nursing schools to turn away prospective students.

"We’re in the middle of a nursing shortage in this country," explains Ada Sue Hinshaw, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor, University of Michigan School of Nursing. "We cannot afford to have colleges and universities deny nurse education to students who want to enter the profession simply because we don’t have enough teachers."

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), a Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow member, U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 11,000 qualified applicants in 2003. This is significantly up from more than 5,000 in 2002. Almost 65 percent of the reporting nursing schools cited faculty shortages as the reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into entry-level baccalaureate programs.

Those shortages are expected to worsen in the coming years because more nurse faculty will be retiring, academic compensation is not keeping pace and fewer nurses are graduating with the advanced degrees needed to teach.

Through first-person testimonials, the new faculty recruitment ads convey the personal satisfaction and rewards nurse educators receive. They also direct audiences to the coalition’s Web site -- www.nursesource.org -- where visitors can learn more about nurse education careers.

"Nursing education ... pass it on" expresses the essence of what it means to be a nurse educator -- to convey the academic knowledge one possesses, as well as the practical experience one has gained in clinical practice," explains Greta Sherman, senior partner of JWT Specialized Communications, a Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow sponsor and creator of the faculty recruitment advertising campaign.

The nurse educators featured in the campaign are:

"As nurses, we are essential to the health of our communities, be they local or global. As nurse educators we ensure that our communities have the nurses who are prepared to meet current and future health needs and to lead the next generation of health care providers," said Weingarten.

The campaign consists of four print advertisements, one Web banner and an 8-½ x 11-inch flier. A career profile of a Nurse Educator will soon be added to the NHT Web site. Distribution through formal and grassroots methods begins this month with major support from the campaign’s platinum sponsor, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, global publisher of medical, nursing and allied health information.

"Nurse educators are critical to creating the nurses needed to meet our country’s health care needs," said Jay Lippincott, president and CEO of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Major sponsors of the Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow faculty recruitment campaign also include JWT Specialized Communications, NurseWeek, Nursing Spectrum, Marsh Affinity Group Services, Helene Fuld Health Trust and the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation.

Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow can be found online at www.nursesource.org.