Robin Schaeffer, AzNA Executive Director, is quoted in a story in Monday's Arizona Capitol Times.

“In nursing school, only nurses can really educate nurses,” Schaeffer said. “As our retirement increases, we might not have enough faculty to educate our new nurses.”

Hospitals cannot depend solely on less experienced nurses when faced with serious health crises, Schaeffer said. Hospitals need experienced nurses to teach their newer counterparts.  Fewer experienced nurses translates to a widening of the “identified educational practice gap.”