Health care facilities across the nation are calling for more nurses in the workforce, but with universities struggling to find nurses willing to take a pay cut to teach, thousands of potential students are being turned away.

“The problems are multi-faceted, but the key one is that there is a major shortage of faculty,” said Brigid Lusk, chair and professor of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. “Schools can’t compete with the salaries that nurses with a master’s degree can make in a clinical setting.”

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports that 2005-06 enrollment numbers were up by 5 percent, but in that same year, 32,000 qualified students were turned away because programs could not support the increasing numbers.

While that number may seem like a lot, it can be called into question.

“That number does not tell you how many students were rejected by one school, but were accepted by another,” said Carmella Moran, director of the School of Nursing at Aurora University. “It does not mean that all of those applicants were not accepted somewhere.”

Most area schools have seen the trend in an increased number of applicants, which has prompted many to expand their programs and graduate more per class than ever. Some have even doubled their normal output.

However, it is still not enough to meet the growing demand.

The Human Resources and Services Administration reports that the number of graduates of baccalaureate programs in nursing increased by 18 percent in 2006.

The organization predicts that the nursing supply would have to increase by 90 percent to catch up with the demand that will be in the United States by 2020.

“I don’t know if it is possible to increase the supply by 90 percent,” said Aurora’s Moran. “We have been able to double our graduates in the past two years. We used to bring in 30-35 students, but now we have 65-70 students.”

Lewis University in Romeoville experienced an increase as well, with its master’s program expanding by 25 percent and its bachelor’s program by 30 percent, said Peggy Rice, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

“We have been able to add 30 students within the last two years,” said Rice. “We can admit up to 90 students each class.”

Rice said that the university is at full capacity and likely will not expand in the immediate future.

Lewis University has had a master’s program since the 1980s and does not have as much trouble finding new staff members to teach students. Older, more experienced nurses often don’t mind leaving the physical demands of the clinical setting for the classroom.

“We keep in touch with all of our graduates and many of them come back here to teach,” she said.

However, faculty members are getting older and young nurses may not want to come back because of the lower pay, she said.

Rice said that the biggest problem Lewis is facing right now is the lack of facilities and the need for more classroom space.

Many schools are not apt to expand nursing programs or even establish them because there are so many bureaucratic procedures involved and much of the control is outside the school’s control.

“A lot of universities are turned off because nursing programs are highly regulated,” said Aurora’s Moran. “You have to follow so many rules and regulations. You can’t just do it anyway you want. There is a real structure.”

All clinical instruction must be done by a nurse with a master’s degree or higher, which has prompted hospitals to encourage current staff to return for their advanced degrees. This will in turn allow hospitals to host nursing school clinical classes; such exposure also doubles as a great recruitment tool.

Area nursing programs cite local hospitals as catalysts for the expansion of current graduate numbers. As more hospitals sign up as clinical sites, more students can be trained.

In this system, schools will pay a hospital to, in effect, rent a staff nurse, who will provide on-site training for students. Sometimes a nurse is compensated for pulling double duty, but oftentimes it is just part of the job.

The problem with this system is that many hospitals are strapped for staff and are forced to use their experienced nurses in training exercises rather than in clinical settings.

It is also quite expensive for schools.

Some of the larger programs, like Northern Illinois, are attempting to implement innovative practices that will relieve hospitals of supplying some of the clinical hours.

“We are trying to establish more innovative ways of teaching, rather than continuing to spread resources thinly,” said Northern’s Lusk. “We eventually hope to have human patient simulators which will hopefully replace some on-site clinical hours.”

In the long run the investment will be less and the instruction can take place in school laboratories with Northern faculty.

Northern has been able to increase its number of students to 140 out of an applicant pool of 500-600, said Lusk.

Lusk said that it will take a mix of state and private sector assistance to curb the current shortage and that more resources are needed. Last year Northern was able to give 16 grants to its nursing educators through state funding.

“We are trying to keep them in teaching, but still more is needed” said Lusk. “We have increased output, but it won’t address everything.”