Divoky said that some of the ways to solve the nursing educator shortage are similar to the ones for other areas of nursing. One of the main reasons people don't go into nursing education is the low pay. Nursing organizations are working on ways to attract minority groups to nursing and address the concerns of nurses. A good working environment, nursing enrichment programs and shared governance programs are being implemented to attract and retain nurses in hospitals. Rebecca Patton, director of nursing at Richmond Heights Hospital, said that their shared governance program has resulted in changes.
Nurses participate in development of policy and revision at monthly meetings.
Patton said that the advantages of this are higher job satisfaction, better outcomes and compliance. Through the shared governance council, the administration found that nurses were working hard doing other tasks besides nursing, so support staff members were added in such areas as transport, errands and documentation. A study by Dr. Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., RN, of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, explores the steady decline in the number of nurses. Hillcrest Hospital has implemented a similar program this year. Director of recruitment Jane Olson said that the nursing staff advisory council was created to give suggestions to nursing management.