Fears of a nursing shortage prompted nationwide recruiting efforts over the last several years to train more nurses, but U.S. nursing schools turned away more than 67,500 qualified applicants in 2010, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
The primary reason: a lack of faculty.
To teach nursing at the college level requires a master's degree or higher, but not enough registered nurses move beyond their two- or four-year degrees to become instructors, the association says.
Working registered nurses can have overnight shifts and rotating schedules, as well as family responsibilities, making it difficult to attend classes in person, says Geraldine Bednash, CEO of the AACN.
Recognizing these demands and the need for more flexibility, some of the country's top nursing schools now offer online programs for advanced nursing degrees—which could enable registered nurses to fill the faculty shortage, Bednash says.
U.S. News's 2012 ranking of Top Online Graduate Nursing Programs recognizes those schools with the best online graduate degree options. Online master's of nursing and doctorate of nursing practice degrees are ranked in four distinct areas: admissions selectivity, faculty credentials and training, student engagement and accreditation, and student services and technology. Online degree programs considered for the rankings have at least 80 percent of their course content available online, and enrolled students in the 2010-2011 academic year.
[See the methodology behind the Top Online Graduate Nursing Programs.]
The top online nursing programs in each ranking category are George Washington University's School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. (faculty credentials and training), University of Northern Colorado (student engagement and accreditation), Delta State University in Mississippi (admissions selectivity), and Loyola University New Orleans (student services and technology).
While the rankings evaluate schools in separate areas, strong online programs excel in multiple categories. U.S. News recognized schools ranked in the top third of at least three ranking categories with the online graduate nursing program honor roll.
[See all of the programs ranked in U.S. News's 2012 Top Online Education Programs ranking.]
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