Teaching Clinicals???

julieface · Feb 3, 2013

At my school, I have heard a clinical instructor makes about 35/hour and an adjunct instructor makes 30/hour. This is in central Florida.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2013

Hi everyone...
I was just wondering if any of you out there have ever taught the clinical portion for any nursing schools.. I have been thinking about doing this when I get some experience under my belt.. What do you like/not like about it? How is the pay?
Any advice or tips is appreciated!! :)

I see that you have only been an RN for a few months. Most schools want instructors that have been RN's for several years. Having or at least working on a Master's is ideal, although you may be able to get a job teaching in an LPN program without one, once you have experience.

roser13, ASN, RN · Feb 3, 2013

Master's degree required in my neck of the woods.

rehric00 · Feb 3, 2013

In our area, to teach clinical you must be one degree level above your students. For classroom, you need a Master's to teach. I am looking ahead into the future, as I would not want to teach right now. But aside from that, I went to Purdue- one of our clinical profs was a new grad with less than a year of experience and she did OK.

lepew · Feb 9, 2013

Our college requires a MSN to teach theory in the ADN but we use BSN for clinical if they are enrolled in an MSN program. In the LVN program I used to teach in- the preferred a BSN to teach but would hire and ADN to teach with minimum of 3 years exp.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Feb 9, 2013

I've taught at three universities. Instructors get an agreed-upon, per-credit-hour-amount for the whole semester, rather than pay for each hour worked. Adjuncts (that means part time and that's what clinical instructors usually are) generally get MUCH less per credit hour than full-time instructors. Except for one place I've worked and at some other schools I have first-hand knowledge about, adjunct pay can be scarcely more than enough to pay for gasoline, supplies, and equipment needed to teach the course. It's definitely not enough to live on, and only for those who want the experience or truly love to do it, in my opinion.

What I like about it is that I can see my students go from being newbies to being confident, excellent providers of care. I like to be part of that.

SRDAVIS · Feb 14, 2013

You think she did ok. A new graduate should not be teaching anyone anything. It takes 2 years to feel comfortable in your own practice.

elkpark · Feb 14, 2013

I've taught in several different programs over the years, and, in my experience it would be extremely unusual for anyone with less than several years of solid clinical experience to get a teaching job. While the students may have thought that a new-grad instructor was doing "OK," I would question whether students are in a position to adequately evaluate that (no criticism intended, just being objective).

As noted, clinical and adjunct faculty (anyone who isn't a permanent, full-time faculty member) usually get paid a salary based on the number of credit hours or contact hours in a course. That means that, if you're teaching a clinical course of two eight hour clinical days a week, you are getting paid for those 16 hours (only). When considering the hourly rate, remember that you're not getting paid anything for the extra time one spends preparing for class or clinical, traveling for clinical, grading assignments, meetings, etc. Until you're actually doing it, it's hard to really "get" how much extra time is involved. If you average the salary out over the actual number of hours you end up putting in, it usually works out to something pretty darmed low per hour.

But teaching does have other rewards, as well. Best wishes!