Perhaps a more critical problem than Hawai'i's nursing shortage is the need for more people to teach nursing.

In 2005, hundreds of qualified students were turned away from nursing programs in Hawai'i because there weren't enough faculty and lab facilities to accommodate everyone who wanted licensed practical nurse, registered nurse and advance nursing degrees.

"We have 443 of our own children who are fully qualified to be nurses, but we can't train them," said Richard Meiers, president and chief executive of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

Some of the problem can be traced to faculty salaries. At the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, an instructor job requires a master's degree and starts at $61,000 a year.

Doctoral degrees are required to be an assistant professor, a job that starts at $70,000.

That compares with starting pay of nursing school graduates that's almost $60,000 a year at some Hawai'i hospitals. Depending on their experience and hours, nurses average between $50,000 and $90,000 a year at Hawaii Pacific Health's hospitals. With overtime, nurses can earn double their base pay.

In effect, registered nurses can equal or exceed the earnings of academics who must have more education.

"We do know the schools of nursing here in Hawai'i cannot graduate enough nurses to handle the shortage, not without additional faculty," said Aggie Pigao-Cadiz, executive director of the Hawai'i Nurses' Association. Additional laboratories and clinical situations outside hospitals are needed as well, she said.

Hawai'i's healthcare community has been trying to rectify the problem by proposing a number of measures to the Legislature, including boosting faculty positions, scholarships for advance nursing degrees and additional laboratories.

"We need to create a pipeline," said Sandra Le-Vasseur, Hawai'i State Center for Nursing associate director.

"In the next 10 years, we're going to lose a significant number of nurses and nurse faculty positions."