Question of the Month: Should All Adjunct Faculty Have a Masters Degree?

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  1. Should All Nursing Faculty (Even Adjuncts) Have a Masters Degree

    • 34
      Yes - This is necessary to ensure the highest caliber of instruction for our students.
    • 26
      No - This is unnecessary and unrealistic.
    • 19
      This really depends on the circumstances of the school and area.

79 members have participated

This is the subject of great controversy here in North Carolina. If this ever were to become the standard set by the BON, many nursing schools across the state would close due to the acute shortage of faculty. Many schools rely on part time adjuncts for clinicals. Finding adjuncts with a BSN is a challenge; finding adjuncts with a Masters is just about insurmountable.

I am interested in hearing your viewpoints about this subject.

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
In order for Registered Nursing to be recognized as a profession and be on par with the other professions, I say, yes---Masters degrees are necessary for adjunct faculty members. In states, whereby advanced-degree nurses are practically inexistent, the state Boards of Nursing have their hands full. Do these schools of nursing close because of the lack of instructors?

There are some exceptional practitioners in nursing who are BSN trained and excellent teachers. These individuals make the best preceptors on the unit. To place under-credentialled RNs in faculty positions in our college programs for RNs, is unfair to professional nursing and to nurses.

If I had a crystal ball...

Please see my post in the North Carolina Forum for another perspective:

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117042

Our nursing program is located in one of the poorest regions of North Carolina (we actually service the 4 poorest counties in all of North Carolina). Our nursing program is vital to the local economy and to the supply of nurses for area facilities. Because North Carolina community college faculty salaries are 78% of the national average, there is a critical shortage of nursing faculty and the rural/ impoverished regions of the state are particularly hard hit. We are already struggling to "stay afloat" and often resort to recruiting nursing faculty with BSNs. To require that all nursing faculty have a Masters - even adjuncts and part-time - will result in the closure of many nursing programs across the state.

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As an educator myself, and adjunct faculty I have to say that ultimatelt YES you should have your MSN, but I think it is okay to accept nurses who are on process with their degrees. I feel that when a nurse decided to enroll in an advanced degree, they are taking the nursing profession more seriously and gaining new and useful information. Even though I am in an APNP program, I still gain information that I can share with students.

I am experienced in what I teach, and I think that is what makes the difference. Students respect me, and ultimately they REALLY dont know the difference bewteen and MSN and a BSN nurse, in fact thay ask me all of the time what the RN, BSN, PCCN stands for on my nametag and when they realize I dont have an MSN, I dont think they respect me any less.

But, I think clinical instructors especially should be currently practicing and be an expert in their field. Although I currently teach in med-surg (I am a cardiac specialist) I have worked there in the past and can translate my knowledge to a teachable format. You can have all of the knowledge about, but you if you cannot teach in a way that people learn, it doesnt matter whar degree you have! :)

Emma

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