cnburton

You just found out and you are graduating? I knew before I started and I have taken the core classes too. I am 55 and maybe will go on for my post masters certificate for NP after I am done next May. Heck if I keep going until I die, how can they collect on my student loans? ;o)

I know that finding good clinical sites for students is one of the issues and even with different shifts, there may be students of various levels from the BSN and ADN program on the same unit....which makes it sometimes more work for staff and then the patient has to answer alot of questions multiple times when they don't feel so great in the first place. This is where the technology comes in, they have simulated patients now that do so much, it is amazing. You can put in a foley, IV, NG, feel pulses listen to heart and lung sounds and practice emergency procedures, like CPR, ACLS etc. The technology is expensive. Nursing requires cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills and you can't get all this from reading a book or listening to a lecture. I would imagine it is like this with other health profession training ( ie MD, PA, Paramedic, surgical tech , etc). I have 8 students in clinical and it is difficult, I can't imagine 10. The students do have lab fees as well. I think with the economy everyone is trying to contain costs and it is difficult for the higher educational institutions to find the funds for a 75k simulated man , but heck with so many people out of work, you could advertise for paid models to work with students for much less although you'd have to pay me alot to put in a NG.

Yes! I would do the NP and then get a post masters certificate in teaching, if I were younger and doing it again. Too bad I didn't find this site a few years ago. I do believe the clinically competent part is vital as health care is rapidly changing, but I also think you need to know how to teach, what is the best way to help an adult learner etc. The factor for NP's is in the future the requirement will be do obtain a DNP and since that is who is the preferred teacher, perhaps some classes will be designed into the curriculum that involves learning.

Titles are not really all that concerning to me. In addition to the clinical component, I was connecting the pay inequity in as a possible rationale for this separation. I certainly do not have the time or energy to try to change anything. I have two part time jobs and go to grad school part time. I wish now that I had taken the NP track instead of the Nurse Ed track because fo the clinical component and more flexibility with the NP degree. I have learned more about teaching nursing with my courses and that will certainly help me to prepare competent nurses for our future and who knows I may continue on and get those courses and obtain my NP as well. Our profession is fortunate to have you Elkpark! Thank you!

Why is that the criteria? Why isn't getting an " advanced" degree enough? I am taking Advanced pharmacology and Advanced patho to teach it and explain it to many others and that requires advanced training and practice. Just because I won't prescribe , I am paying for the degree and putting in the hard work to attain it, I feel I deserve the title.

Exactly! We certainly don't have a shortage of sports to watch....I think that is what we need to do to convince them!The way to cure this shortage is to pay more. I know we don't go into nursing just for the money either but the pay has increased over the years and it is better than it used to be. We are professionals and the business person who is in demand knows how to negotiate a contract for higher wages and benefits.

Jbudd I think with all this interest that you should publish.... for those asking about the differences: The difference between community college and university level is you can teach in the clinical site with a BSN, and teach in the classroom with a MSN: for university you must have a MSN for clinical and PhD for classroom.

There are many more nurse educators who do not continue to practice nursing in the clinical setting as staff nurses than those who do. I teach part time as adjunct clinical faculty for a community college and there are 2 out of 8 that still work in nursing just in my section. Many of the nursing educators have not worked in several years and that is what is needed....clinically competent nurse educators. I think the advanced practice nurse title should still count for the advanced degree....not for the setting you work in.

I did my BSN online and took two classes at a time and worked full time without a problem. Grad school is different, there is so much reading to do. It is not unusual to have 20 articles to 10 chapters to read for one 3 credit class plus an activity to do, like a discussion board posting every week. I work two part time jobs and take two classes and I spend all my free time studying. I guess it depends on the class too but patho and pharm are tough especially if you have not taken them in awhile. The tests are harder too with all of the multiple choice answers comparable and you must choose the 'best' answer. I had a 3.8 gpa undergrad and now a 3.2 in grad school and have to retake patho because of APA errors on the case studies. I think it would be difficult to have a new job especially a management one and take a class in grad school...in my humble opinion.

Yes I understand that it is the schools who do the pay for educators, and many of them are public universities which are partly funded by our state government and ultimately us, as taxpayers. Why do we allow this? Why don't we lobby to change this? Instead of just settling for what they will allow? I hate to say it , but if more men were in nursing and nursing education , we would all make more money as women will more likely go along with what is offered instead of negotiating. I think there needs to be more partnerships between the health care facilities and academia to correct this nursing shortage before the baby boomers are all seniors.

It is interesting that we all know that educators are not well paid and we do it because we love it. The reality is we do have to pay our bills just like anyone else. If there is a nursing shortage because of having a nurse educator shortage, it would seem that supply and demand might come into play. I have one more year of the nurse educator MSN program and wish I had done the NP focus instead so I could have kept my options open. I teach part time clinicals and have a part time staff nurse job too that is flexible enough so I can teach and I have to pick up extra shifts where ever I can in between semesters too. I also have a student loan to think about....and for all this they want a PhD too? I have to say I don't do it for the money, but with a nursing shortage they do tend to pay more for nursing staff to attract them with sign on bonuses, why is this not done for nursing faculty?