Nursing instructor question

[SummerOlaf]

Hello,

I am currently a first-semester nursing student with two years left to finish nursing school. I realized I don't enjoy working in the bedside. However, I love learning about nursing. I thought that in the future I would want to be a nursing instructor. I know that most nursing schools prefer 3 years of bedside experience and masters which I am willing to do. However, I am worried that because I am not that passionate about bedside nursing I wouldn't be that efficient of an instructor. Also, is it challenging to find a job as a nurse educator? Do I need to have years of experience in my belt? Do I need to have multiple specialties?

Would it be better to switch majors?

Thanks

[Nurse.Kelsey, BSN, RN]

Are you serious? You dont enjoy bedside but want to be an instructor? No...

Obviously you need real experience to be able to teach on that experience.....

[FashionablyL8, CNA, LPN]

I'm in my first semester of nursing school and in this term, we will just be starting our clinicals and doing very limited nursing care with actual patients, which is how it should be since many students have no experience in the field. Therefore, I'm curious how you know that you don't enjoy bedside care. Do you have previous experience? If not, you might just not have liked the awkward feeling of not knowing what you're doing and having someone watching you.

Otherwise, I don't really see why you would get into nursing without there being some component of wanting to be an actual nurse. What I respect about my instructors is that they are seasoned nurses. I trust them to teach me because they have seen and done so much, and I learn a lot from hearing about their experiences.

There's nothing wrong with not enjoying bedside care. I love it, but also understand it's not for everyone. I do think you should do some soul searching and thinking about this. Maybe looking into some type of medical research or the science field, since learning about nursing interests you? I hope you find what makes you happy. Best of luck!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

You will need 3-5 years of experience at a minimum to be a nursing instructor. MSN is usually not far enough to secure a position in academia - you will need a Ph.D. or a DNP. You can work as an educator at the hospital with an MSN.

However, if you do not enjoy bedside, how do you imagine that you will represent this career to others? It won't be good.

Enjoying learning about nursing is not the same as teaching it. If you want to be a teacher there are far more efficient ways to go about it without putting yourself through a career that apparently isn't your cup of tea.

[Rionoir, ADN, RN]

I’ve had a couple of instructors who are MSN but have minimal experience and they bring very little to the classroom. Please don’t do that.

[Wuzzie]

I've found the most effective teachers are the ones who are enthusiastic about the subject they are teaching. The ones who are "meh" about the subject are "meh" instructors and that's not what the students are paying for. Yes, you should switch majors.

[Golden_RN, MSN]

You've barely begun your first semester, therefore it is too early to make these statements like "I don't enjoy bedside care". Just try to get through nursing school at this point. I assume you haven't been exposed yet to home health, psych, L & D, NICU and many other specialties/work environments. Keep an open mind over the next couple of years about all of the possibilities.

[murseman24, MSN, CRNA]

You won't be paid well as a nursing instructor and you would be doing your students a disservice. Please don't. an NP and PA don't do as much "bedside" care, you can always move on to something like that.. there are other options with less hands-on bedside care

[Oldmahubbard]

It is way too early to make these kinds of judgements. Many people don't like the bedside, put up with it for a couple of years, and move on.

A nursing educator job of any stripe is very, very competitive, and not all that well paid.

[BSN-to-MSN, ADN, BSN, RN]

I would say, take this semester and figure it out before wasting the time studying for something you do not like. How much bedside did you do exactly in the first semester of nursing school? You might look at your instructor, and think : " Oh, they have it easier than I do, and they are well respected, etc. I want to be them". It might be just stress, or something more than that.

I will say this, also: there is no RN without bedside. EVERYONE has done it, love it or hate it.

[Tacocat, ASN, RN]

First semester nursing clinicals are usually fundamentals. Vital signs, bed baths, toileting, ambulation. Is that the sort of stuff you don't like? Because that's only part of it.

My first semester clinical was boring. Vital signs, answering call lights, wiping butts. The second semester opened up a whole new world for me, though -- it was the "exciting" nurse-y stuff. Changing wound dressings on wicked pressure sores and amputation sites, setting IVs, administering and monitoring blood transfusions, tube feedings/TPN, giving meds and injections. All under the watchful eye of my amazing clinical instructor.

That being said, the best instructors I've had are the ones that love what they do. It's hard to feel motivated and enthusiastic when your instructor doesn't give a crap about the subject material. It's also worth noting that a lot of faculty doesn't teach full time -- they keep their regular jobs and teach part time or per diem.

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

In general, I don’t buy into the whole “You have to pay your dues bedside to be a Real Nurse” thing. (I didn’t work bedside; I do ambulatory care.) However, I think this case is different. My nursing instructors were truly experts in their subject matter, which is what made them valuable. I don’t see how you could teach it if you haven’t done it. That being said: there are so many alternatives other than med-surge. For example, my psych professor was an experienced psych nurse and it was invaluable. Any med surge or medical experience she had didn’t come up in class because it wasn’t what she was teaching. But you do have to have expertise in SOME nursing area before you can teach it. Just like teaching MBA classes or law school or whatever— you’d have to have experience doing it before anyone would listen to you teaching it.

If you really feel like you can’t like ANY type of patient care, it’s not too late to change fields, and you could find something you love!