Some professionals choose to enter nursing field as second career

The Boston Globe on Monday examined how a "small but growing number of mid-career professionals" are choosing to enter the nursing field as a second career, a trend that could help "mitigate the widespread nursing shortage facing" the nation.

Currently, there are more than 116,000 unfilled nursing positions across the U.S., and that number is expected to increase to 340,000 by 2020.

Nursing education officials say that hundreds of professionals nationwide in their 30s or older have begun to enter nursing school. In 2006, 12,347 students with bachelor's degrees in other fields were enrolled in second-degree nursing programs at both the bachelor's and master's level, up from 6,860 in 2003, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Peter Buerhaus, a nursing professor at Vanderbilt University, attributes the growing interest to recent nurse wage increases, widespread job openings and patriotism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, "all the extra interest has created a logjam at nursing schools across the country, where demand for slots is increasing far faster than the availability," the Globe reports.

In addition, hospitals' availability to train student nurses is limited, Carmela Townsend, academic coordinator at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, said. Buerhaus said the nursing shortage is "still a big problem, but it's getting better" (Cutraro, Boston Globe, 7/9).