AACN White paper on Faculty Shortages in Undergraduate and Graduate Nursing Progams

Published

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
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Specializes in Pediatrics.

excellent find (we can always count on you to find the good info!!). i didn't read the whole thing, but it points out many interesting facts. the one i love the most is the salary issue: as a per-diem floor nurse with a bsn (not that it matters when you're per-diem- i could have an adn and get the same), i made more in 2004 than an assoc professor with a msn. so why am i going crazy to get this degree finished? so i can make less money than i do now? or so i could either start paying the $50k loan i'm accumulating, or defer it and start the doctoral program?

vicky, please tell me i'm going to like teaching. i need some positive reinforcement.

oy!! my head is spinning

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Just look at it this way, bonemarrow, you're investing in yourself... and you're worth it! :) Even though the money situation now doesn't seem very inspiring, having that Masters will open all sorts of doors and opportunities to you that you haven't even envisioned. Yes, you will enjoy teaching and you will enjoy the privilege and opportunity to mold multiple generations of nurses to come. In doing so, your potential influence in so many areas--all the patients that your future students will care for, for instance, is incalculable.

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Specializes in Nursing Education.

Joy - this is an amazing article which is profoundly sad for the future of nursing education. As a future educator myself, I echo some of the concerns that others have stated on this thread as well as other threads. I am a very practical man, one that likes the checks and balances of a good career. But it is hard to accumulate all of this debt I am accumulating in student loans to get my Master's degree only to realize that I may never make the same wage that my graduates will make once they are out in the work force. This is a bad scenario for educators. In this day and age where personal financial security is important, especially as we grow older .... moving in the direction of teaching may not be a financially smart move.

To further add fuel to the fire, the shortage of educators will be so profound, it might cripple the nursing education system when more nurses then ever before will be needed. It is a bad situation to say the very least.

Thank you for sharing this information. :)

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