The demand for advanced practice nurses in Iowa is growing constantly. Despite the fact that a large number of students opt of these courses there is a shortfall of the advanced practice nurse practitioners in the health care industry.

According to the Iowa Board of Nursing, the number of students seeking a master's or doctoral degree in nursing has shot up since 2008, mainly due to the rise of online programs. The University of Iowa encourages students to take for the program so that the gap could be filled. At present there are 240,400 advanced practice nurses in the U. S. which includes 144,200 nurse practitioners, 69,000 clinical nurse specialists, 13,700 nurse midwives and others.

President of the Iowa Nurses Association, Virginia "Ginny" Wangerin, said that more advanced practice nurses are required for the up gradation of health care. Increased number of advanced nurses will help in promoting wellness, managing disease and minimizing the high cost of chronic care.

A recent Institute of Medicine report on the future of nursing has recommended that doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020 will be beneficial for the health care industry.