Finishing BSN.....Then What???

[WhatsanRN]

I am an RN with 15 yars now in the field. I have experience in critical care (doing this now) as well as quality control and nusing leadership. I am tired of floor game for sure (38 now) and cannot see myself spending more than five mroe years at best on the floor.

I wanted to pursue a graduate degree in nursing with a focus on education but the salary for a nursing professor is so insulting cannot imagine why people do it. It really sheds some light on the nursing shortage as a whole. The pay the people that are educating nurses less than what a nurse on the floor can make with a little overtime. It seems so backwards to me.

I have a year to go before I am finished with the RN to BSN program. I am trying to plan what to do next. Any personal experience from fellow nurses is appreciated.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

You are so right about the very poor salaries for our nurse educators in academic settings. It's really disgraceful, especially when you consider how difficult the environment is becoming. I have huge admiration for their continued dedication and professionalism.

However, there are a lot of us (nurse educators) in the workplace/ service sector also. Nowadays, most larger organizations require qualifications & credentials for nurse educator positions - instead of the traditional staff nurse-->inservice coordinator --> educator. Staff education is big business; Educators play a very vital role in achieving organizational goals. We are responsible for planning & implementation of the "people skills" aspect of each and every initiative and project... in addition to achieving and maintaing compliance with the ever-increasing mountain of regulatory requirements. Many of us are also involved in design & development of eLearning. Those of us with graduate & post grad degrees earn salaries that are considerably higher than our colleagues in academia.

The only drawback? Most MSN-Educator programs continue to focus on academia and do not include all the administrative & operational knowledge & skills needed to manage staff education so you would need to take additional courses &/or arrange for management training in your organization.