[brian]

There's a new wrinkle in the nation's nursing shortage. The National League of Nurses says there simply aren't enough instructors to teach a booming crop of nursing students. WFMZ's Jaccii Farris has the story.

>> "Today's class we discussed and picked on topics for the course." >> Reporter: It's a new school year at Cedar Crest College's Department of Nursing. Dr. Laurie Murray is preparing the next crop of nurses, eager to ease the nation nursing shortage. But of the 40 students in this Allentown classroom, no one is planning to teach nursing. >> Dr. Laurie Murray: "If you don't have people to teach nursing you won't be able to produce the numbers that are needed." >> Reporter: Murray says it's a problem that could cripple the health care industry as half of the nation's nursing instructors reach retirement age in 2010. Educators are already getting a taste of what's ahead... people willing to teach are already a scarce commodity. >> "It took us four and a half months to get four filled." >>

Full Story and video:
http://wfmz.com/view/?id=144001

[Freedom42]

This is a story about nurses in which the reporter talked to an actual nurse, addressed the issue of noncompetitive salaries in academia, and didn't just parrot the hospital management point of view about the shortage! Pinch me! This reporter got it right!

Thanks for posting this.

[jjjoy]

It's kind of unrealistic to expect nursing students to have distinct plans to become nursing instructors. Being a nurse would the students' first and foremost as you can't very well teach nursing until you've been a nurse! Isn't that like a student taking an algebra course saying "I plan to be a calculus teacher"? Or just taking intro to French and planning to be a French teacher? Gotta get a bit further along before making those kind of plans!

Pay seems to be a big factor in the lack of instructors. Business schools pay their instructors more than other uni divisions for the same reason, the instructors have many alternatives to teaching and they want instructors who are good at business, not folks who teach in order to avoid doing the very thing they are teaching.

[santhony44]

I think there are a lot of good potential instructors out there who will never become instructors due to the pay. Very few people can afford to take a pay cut.

Even if this problem is solved, some schools might not be able to add many student slots due to competition for clinical sites. In some areas, I understand, the competition can be pretty fierce.

[Joe NightingMale]

I'm interested in teaching, once I complete my MSN and get some experience. But I'm not sure I'd want to do it full-time: The pay isn't high enough and I would still want patient contact.

I suspect there are others who feel the same.

[oooooooooo]

Old News!

[mak2]

I am finally at a point in my career I think teaching is possible and I would really like to do it. I ahve an MSN with focus in teaching. I approached one school about it, and they wanted me to submit my VC or CV what ever they called it. It is about a 20 page autobiography according to the very quick internet search I did. I said ok, I will work on it. I dont believe there is another 20 page paper in me. I really want to teach a diadactic class after work for BSN students. Again, I really have not done a lot of research, just ran across this thread.

[sharann]

Can you imagine having a nursing instructor teach you when that instructor's only clinical nursing skills occuured in nursing school?
I am not saying nurses with advanced degrees are not intelligent but I know they can't hold a candle to years of real experience.
There are plenty of Associate degreed and BSN prepared nurses who might be willing to teach AND would be worth their salt. Unfortunately researches like Aiken continue to promote the thought that a MSN and PHd are the only way to go. I don't have a graduate degree and I can see the narrow mindedness of that one.
I would love to teach but I haven't completed enough school to do so. I could teach LVN's but not RN's. So if they want more instructors they need to get those nurses with advanced degrees to get back into bedside nursing so they know what to teach in 2008.

[mak2]

For some reason eduaction is very degree oriented. However, clinicals are very "clinical" and I can see the argument for a 2 year degree nurse with lots of experience being a clinical instructor. Necessity may create changes in that direction.

[JBudd]

I am in the education track of an MSN. What I have found in my research is that in general, a BSN can teach clinicals in an AD program, and an MSN can do the didactic or classroom in the AD program. They want MSNs to do clinical for the BSN program, and PhD for classroom. It's not a hard and fast rule, but those are the recommendations.

I've recently been recruited as a BSN to teach clinicals. The pay is less than 75% of what I make in the ER.