Nursing school vs. nursing shortage

romie · Apr 16, 2006

Simply explain that one of the reasons that a nursing shortage exists is because there is a shortage of nursing faculty. Nursing school requires a lot of nursing faculty due to the need for low student teacher ratios, as opposed to say, an English department, that can churn out hundreds of students with very few english teachers. To compound the problem, if you teach, you have to take a huge cut in pay--- see, in order to teach at the university level, you need at least an MSN. But with an MSN, you can get paid so much more as an advance practice nurse--$80k and up, whereas the average for nurse faculty is only $64K. What nurse in their right mind will take that huge cut in pay, unless they really want to teach? Therein lies the problem.

romie · Apr 16, 2006

Oh, and need I mention the fact that last year, anywhere from 50,000-100,000 well qualified applicants were turned away by nursing schools-simply because the schools had limited seats due to limited faculty.

Joeleen · Apr 17, 2006

Or try this one. In our class we had 50 students, after pediatrics we now have 15.. How is that helping the nursing shortage?

The students said that the finals were nothing like they had expected and not what they were told to expect. The faculty responded with "everything is fair game"

I am thankful to have passed.

Kelly_the_Great · Apr 17, 2006

Natkat,

I feel for ya. Unfortunately, the general public's common view of nursing is that all we do is fluff pillows, clean poo and offer water.

The previous posters' advice re. explaining nursing school/faculty shortage = nurse shortage is the best explanation (and most easily understood). Just think you're already educating the public! LOL

chadash · Apr 17, 2006

I think this is caused partly by how they choose canidates. Instead of choosing those most likely to succeed, they do first come first serve, thus the 50 students dropping to 15.

introspectiveRN · Apr 17, 2006

I think this is caused partly by how they choose canidates. Instead of choosing those most likely to succeed, they do first come first serve, thus the 50 students dropping to 15.

I did not realize that there were any schools who were strictly "first come, first served". That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Our school had 336 applicants. Out of that, the top 105 were chosen (GPA of 3.5 or better and SAT of 1050 or better). Out of those 105 less than half of us are left. We also have some key instructors who believe in "fair" game. :uhoh3: . They are far from "fair". With a few exceptions, the people who failed out were all excellent test takers and good risks for the NCLEX as well as the profession in general. These same instructors choose to write their own test questions. As a former English major and a writer...I can tell you that I have seen some sentences that came directly out of the belly of sentence he!!. A waste. And a shame.

Kelly_the_Great · Apr 17, 2006

All of the nursing schools that I know of in Tx. base their admittance upon GPA scores.

Thing is having a high GPA in pre-reqs is not necessarily indicative of test scores in nursing schools b/c as we all know nursing questions with application focus, 2 or > right answers, etc. are so totally different from what most students have ever encountered. Oh well... :rolleyes:

Personally, I think they should consider the "whole" package of the student. Especially since "holism" is such a big focus in nursing. I'm sorry, I'd really rather work with 10 "B" or "C" student nurses any day than 20 "A" students. But this is just my opinion. At the very least, I think they should do face-to-face interviews.

DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 17, 2006

I did not realize that there were any schools who were strictly "first come, first served". That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

You're right, it is! The community college in my town has a wait list (about 3 years long) based strictly on when your last pre-req. was completed.

A 2.0 was the minimum grade is required in all the pre-req classes for the nursing program. I can't tell you how many students I had in my prereq classes with the attitude of "oh well, all I need is a 2.0" :smackingf

Doesn't matter if you have a 2.0 GPA or a 4.0, your wait time is still the same!

Beary-nice · Apr 17, 2006

simply explain that one of the reasons that a nursing shortage exists is because there is a shortage of nursing faculty. nursing school requires a lot of nursing faculty due to the need for low student teacher ratios, as opposed to say, an english department, that can churn out hundreds of students with very few english teachers. to compound the problem, if you teach, you have to take a huge cut in pay--- see, in order to teach at the university level, you need at least an msn. but with an msn, you can get paid so much more as an advance practice nurse--$80k and up, whereas the average for nurse faculty is only $64k. what nurse in their right mind will take that huge cut in pay, unless they really want to teach? therein lies the problem.

i agree that this is part of the problem, not enough instructors. :uhoh21:

beary

Midwest4me · Apr 17, 2006

Congrats on getting in! I didn't realize it was such a LONG wait these days---4 years is a very leng time! When I attended nursing school 21 yrs ago GPAs and interviews were the deciding factors...not first-come, first-served.

My sister in Iowa is now trying to get in. She's been a CNA/CMA for 20 yrs or so. She tells me that a requirement for her program is to be a CNA! However, the CNA COURSE has to have been completed within the last 12 yrs! She fuming because now she has to go through the course again! Her CMA work experience is not being considered.

shodobe · Apr 17, 2006

I feel for all that go through the "selection" process of nursing school. I read all of these "horror" stories and count my self very lucky. I went through school 30 years ago and it was mostly first come, first serve. I really didn't think I wanted to do it but was pushed into it by an LVN friend, 20 years my senior. I was in the very first class of the school so we were the test group. I couldn't have asked for a better group of instructors! They would bend virtually over backwards to make sure you understood and passed all the courses. I admire all of you that perservere throughout the ordeals you have to put up with. My hats off to you!