Hoboken, NJ (PRWeb) July 17, 2007 — Nurses are the backbone of the health industry, caring for patients 24 hours a day, but the U.S. is facing a dire shortage of these professionals. According to a report released last week by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute, the U.S. will be short nearly one million nurses by 2020 due to many variables, including retirement. However, accredited online nursing degrees can help fill the void of leadership roles in the nursing industry quickly and effectively.
eLearners.com, which connects prospective students with online learning providers, offers more than 300 accredited online health and medical degrees, including nursing degrees that can help educate healthcare practitioners across the country. Visit http://www.elearners.com/online-degrees/nursing.htm to view some of the online nursing programs available.
Career advancement is often only possible for nurses who hold a bachelor's and/or master's degree, so many professionals are turning to the Internet to get the education they need to fill vacancies left by retiring nurses. And the timing is right. A Nursing Management Aging Workforce Study found 55 percent of nurses plan to retire between 2011 and 2020. Right now U.S. hospitals are already 118,000 registered nurses short, according to the American Hospital Association.
Despite the demand to enter the nursing industry, the lack of educational resources at brick-and-mortar nursing colleges is hindering progress to addressing the shortage. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away almost 43,000 qualified applicants in 2006.
"Traditional colleges have to turn away applicants because of faculty, classroom and budget constraints, however online programs don't have the same demands and are able to accept more students," said Andrew Gansler, CEO of eLearners.com. "Although most online programs aren't for entry-level nurses, we can open up seats in nursing colleges by offering online resources to those looking to further their medical education."
eLearners.com offers more than 50 online nursing degrees ranging from an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing to a Nursing Ph.D. Some of the highest paid fields in nursing require at least a master's degree including nurse anesthetists, nurse practioners and nurse midwives. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median salary for a nurse is $52,330 with the highest 10 percent earning more than $74,000 a year.
To help answer the many questions people have about studying online, eLearners.com has created the "Mini-Guide to Online Nursing". The guide answers questions such as:
For more information on nursing degrees, online education, and how to finance college visit eLearners.com.
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EducationDynamics, LLC, a portfolio company of Halyard Capital, is a leading interactive marketing and information services company focused on helping higher education institutions find, enroll and retain students. Home to some of the most visible education Web sites, including EarnMyDegree.com, eLearners.com, GradSchools.com, and StudyAbroad.com, EducationDynamics is one of the leading providers of qualified leads for colleges and universities. In addition, the company offers a full suite of Web-delivered products and services to manage a school's relationship with students across their entire life cycle from inquiry through enrollment to retention. For more information on EducationDynamics, please visit http://www.educationdynamics.com.
About eLearners.com®
The eLearners.com Web site is one of several high visibility, high-quality prospecting tools offered by EducationDynamics, LLC. Since 1999, eLearners.com has been successfully connecting learners to online education, including online degree and certificate programs, specialized career training, and a variety of online courses. For prospective students, eLearners® provides a powerful search engine for users to find thousands of online program offerings, as well as educational evaluation tools and financial aid resources. For colleges and universities, the eLearners.com Web site offers a low-cost, performance-based method to provide national exposure and increase enrollments in their programs. For more information on eLearners.com, visit www.elearners.com.
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