Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

It’s a troubling situation: Despite a growing nursing shortage, nursing schools continue to turn away more potential nurses.

The number of applicants denied admission to nursing schools has increased six-fold since 2002 because of a lack of instructors, according to a report released this week by Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ Health Research Institute. Also, by 2010, the number of RNs in the United States will begin to decrease, the first time this has happened in decades, the report said.

The report also found the following: Half of all new nurses leave their first job within two years. The nurse work force also “in general is dissatisfied” for three primary reasons: excessive paperwork, heavy workloads and inadequate staffing.