[brian]

Sonja Barnes said she became a nursing instructor at Hagerstown Community College because she wanted to work better hours.

When she worked as a hospital nurse, Barnes said, the long shifts prevented her from spending quality time with her husband and three young children.

"(Teaching) is wonderful," Barnes said. "The best part is I have the summers off, and the weekends and holidays."

But not all nurses feel that way. Some find working flexible schedules can be a boon because doing so enables them to earn more money through shift differentials and overtime.

That means nurses can earn more money than nursing instructors.

Nursing instructors - who are required to have master's degrees - earn about $55,000 a year, or about the same as a nurse with a lesser degree and a few years of experience.

That pay situation is one of the reasons there are too few instructors to teach a growing number of potential nursing students, local and national nursing officials say.

The scarcity of instructors, in turn, plays a role in the national nursing shortage, they say.

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[classicdame]

well, DUH!

[mystcnurse]

I am an instructor. I have to work every other weekend, at least one 12 hour shift to make up for the money I lose in my present role. I spend hours during the week, at night grading papers so that my clinical students can have immediate feedback on their care plans, and have multiple committee duties and other administrative responsibilities at the office. However, the actual job is very rewarding. I love seeing and helping students to grow. Better pay would certainly attract more instructors. Or, maybe make life easier for those who are already doing it.

[llg]

A big part of the pay issue also relates to the increasing reliance on adjunct (and part time) faculty to teach instead of hiring full time employees and giving the guaranteed work with benefits. It's not just "how many dollars per hour." This is happening in most disciplines, not just nursing.

With no benefits (e.g. health care, retirement, etc.) and with no guaranteed work from semester to semester, we adjuncts are paid a pittance for the many hours we spend teaching -- hoping to find a decent full time job in education some day. The school gets qualified teachers for very little money. However, adjuncts don't do the academic advising, committee work, etc. that needs to be done for the school ... which then over-burdens the few full time faculty members they do have.

It's a mess.

[CHATSDALE]

in Louisiana the applicants far out number the vacancies in classes for rn...one big factor is the lack of instructors..people have to make decisions based on family need but we need new nurses to take the place of retiring nurses which become even more critical in the near future

[HeartsOpenWide]

There are new nursing instructors in my program that only have BSN degrees, they teach the lower level nursing courses (although all my intructors have had masters or higher).

[santhony44]

Originally Posted by classicdame

well, DUH!

Exactly!!

I applied once to teach in an ADN program. I was really excited, until I got to the pay part.

A 50% pay cut.

My chin about hit the floor.

I just could not do it.

I did eventually teach a year in a graduate program, and teaching does have some advantages over other jobs, but pay surely isn't one of them. If I were to go back to that right now, I'd probably have to take a pay cut somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%.

A lot of potential nursing instructors out there aren't teaching because they can't afford to.

[catsibsix]

It's taken me 35 years as a RN working at a hospital to make what instructors make, plus working weekends, nights, holidays, and 12 months a year. Sorry for your problems. keep plugging. Not everywhere is gold.( I now have M-F 8 hour job, thank the good LORD )

[mystcnurse]

Originally Posted by catsibsix

It's taken me 35 years as a RN working at a hospital to make what instructors make, plus working weekends, nights, holidays, and 12 months a year. Sorry for your problems. keep plugging. Not everywhere is gold.( I now have M-F 8 hour job, thank the good LORD )

You have got to be kidding. Nurses who graduate from the program I teach in, after one year, can beat my salary working three twelves a week. Which is one of the reasons that I work extra days in the hospital. I was making more working 10 shifts a month than I make now. Your situation is very unusual.

[scribblerpnp]

I took a massive pay cut going from a full time NP to a full time faculty. Our new grads start out making more than I do to teach them. When I took this job teaching (less than 5 years ago) I was offered 35,000/year. I work as a part time NP to make a decent living. I could make more money teaching if I a. Was tenured and had a PhD- am working on that, and 2. Worked in another state. The state whre I am employeed is known nationwide to be poor and have low educator salaries.

But I love teaching and I am going to hang in there with it. SO long as they giv eme enough time to work a second job, I can manage. The summers off are really nice.