I'm a new MSN-Ed prepared Nurse Educator looking for an online adjunct nursing faculty position. So far, I've had no luck, and feel very discouraged.

I've been unemployed since May 2013, and I think it's negatively impacting my chances for employment. I left my first hospital job after nursing school because of the constant bullying and harassment from management and colleagues after two years in 2004. I've been trying to find other ways to use my nursing knowledge since then, and the Great Recession of 2008 threw a monkey wrench into my efforts.

I keep reading about how important it is for RNs to be life-long learners, and how many different ways a RN can use his/her education. That's why I went to graduate school, and why I've been planning to begin a Doctor of Nursing Practice online program in October 2014. The thing is, I've begun to wonder if nursing is a good fit for me. It seems as if I've been barking up the same tree since I graduated with a BSN in 2002, and nothing has worked out. I'm confused, demoralized, frustrated, and feel totally lost.

My questions to you all are:

1) Has/does anyone else out there had/have these feelings about nursing not being right for you?

2) Were you able to confirm this sense of 'not belonging' to yourself about nursing?

3) What did you do about it?

I feel just awful, like a failure and a useless person. Can anyone relate to my experience?

Thanks,

Confused9999

What kind of work were you doing between 2004 and 2013? That is probably the source of your problem. To get a clinical teaching job, you need to be "current" in the practice of the type of nursing you will be teaching. From your post, it sounds like you have not been doing direct patient care since 2004 -- and even then, left without getting a lot of experience first. If adjunct clinical teaching is what you want to do, you may need to take a job doing direct patient care for a while to re-establish your competence as a direct care-giver before any reputable school will hire you to teach patient care to students. If you want to teach home health, public health, etc. then you will need to get experience in that type of nursing first, etc.

What type of classes are you hoping to teach? Do you have current experience in that area?

Also, I should probably point out that the best teachers have positive attitudes about the subjects they are teaching. You seem to have a very negative impression of staff nursing and that attitude may be holding you back.

You may need to re-think your direction and take make a move "sideways" for a while to build your experience level and credibility before you can expect to be hired as a teacher. I wish you well with whatever direction you choose to take from here.

Adjunct online positions are hard to find, because everyone wants one! Most positions require previous teaching experience. Many of the positions are teaching at the Master's level, so a doctorate is required. I agree with llg, likely your lack of clinical experience is hurting your job opportunities. How long were you at the bedside? When was your last bedside job?

Your first job as a nursing instructor or professor will likely be as an adjunct clinical instructor. That is where most people start out before moving into the classroom. I would suggest going back to the bedside in the area you hope to teach.

I think every nurse has felt like he or she did not belong at some point. It is hard for us to comment on whether or not you belong in nursing. But in order to teach nursing, you need to have an area of expertise that you are knowledgeable in and that you enjoy.

Thanks for your reply, llg (?). Between 2004 and 2013, I changed careers to art therapist and completed 12 of the 15 units of art required for the program when the school lost its accreditation (2006 - 2009). I also provided hospice care to a private client, (2006-2007), was inducted into STTI in 2011, and served on the Educational Outreach and Research Taskforce of the Phi Lambda Chapter of STTI from 2011 to 2013. From November 2012 to May 2013, I held a position as an In Home Support Services Instructor (IHSS) for IHSS caregivers. During this time I was the lead author as the four instructors (including me) developed and taught the new 16-week curriculum as mandated by the company's grand from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid.

All of this, except for the IHSS Instructor position, was volunteer work to keep current with nursing trends and gain a lot of different experience. I've tried to find any patient care position during this time as well, and don't have the required 'three years of current practice'. For many reasons, I am unable to return to the bedside care environment, and that is why I focused on nursing education.

Maybe my question is how to account for this time period while keeping to a

one-page resume?

Dear Random_Nurse12,

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your time and comments. My reply to you would be almost identical to the reply to 'llg' (?), so please feel free to read it. ;-) Maybe I'm in the wrong profession. I have no clue if this is so, or how to figure that out.

You are in a tough position. You are not going to be able to teach nursing until you develop some expertise as a nurse. No legitimate school hires a teacher who doesn't know her subject and have experience with it. Is there any other type of nursing that you would be willing/able to do that would interest you?

If not ... if there is no area of nursing that interests you enough to actually do it for a couple of years ... then that should tell you something. See if you can build on some of the work you have been doing for the past couple of years. I don't know much about those things, but that may be your best bet.

I've been a classroom teacher for 17 years, and have taught one class/year on-line (for an BSN completion program) for the past 3 years, in addition to classroom duties in an ADN program. Trust me when I say that on-line teaching absolutely requires experience (clinically as a nurse and as a classroom teacher). It is probably the hardest class to manage that I teach; incredibly time-consuming. You can't quite believe the time it takes until you experience it!

Getting your foot in the door with an adjunct clinical instructor position or in a skills lab position is probably the best way to go. I started out in the skills lab many years ago....after working at the bedside in OB and NICU for 5 years. I worked on my Master's degree while working as an adjunct clinical instructor.

It is probably the hardest class to manage that I teach; incredibly time-consuming. You can't quite believe the time it takes until you experience it!

Can you expand on this point a bit? I am considering trying my hand at online adjunct positions while homeschooling my children, I previously worked for a year as a full time faculty in an RN program and have since become an FNP. I thought I could work on the online course work while they are working on homework independently but maybe this is a pipe dream and I should just hire a sitter once a week and go do a shift at CVS or an urgent care... any thoughts from your experience?