Teaching and working primary job

Rnis, BSN, DNP, APRN, NP · May 2, 2020

I teach as an adjunct. Generally (in my area) you can get 6,000 to 8, 0000 per clinical. I usually will use a few vacation days and adjust my schedule on other days to make it work. Every school is different, so I have jumped schools to have schedules that are less daunting. However, the more I work as an FNP, the less connected I feel to the bedside role and I don't feel that I will continue to want to working with this student population much longer.

LovingPeds, MSN, APRN, NP · May 3, 2020

I teach as an adjunct. In my area it was 8,000 - 9,000 for 90 hours of class combined with the clinical hours. I worked full-time while teaching the class part-time and doing clinical on days I had off. It was flexible but only because they were really needing the position filled.

I always enjoyed patient education so thought I would enjoy teaching. I'm not saying I absolutely hate it, but when students have their backs against the wall failing, it's not a pleasant thing for either you or the student. I swore at the end of the last semester I would never do it again. I was asked to do it again, and sucker for punishment that I am, I agreed.

If you're doing class, there is this learning curve to it if you do not have a background in formal education. I would suggest starting out with some clinical experiences and then decide if you would like to teach. I had a coworker who did that and changed her mind after a few clinical experiences with students.

Rnis, BSN, DNP, APRN, NP · May 4, 2020

5 hours ago, LovingPeds said:
I always enjoyed patient education so thought I would enjoy teaching. I'm not saying I absolutely hate it, but when students have their backs against the wall failing, it's not a pleasant thing for either you or the student. I swore at the end of the last semester I would never do it again. I was asked to do it again, and sucker for punishment that I am, I agreed.

Right! I ran into that this year. I don't think I will be teaching for that school again as I didn't feel supported when a student complained after I gave them a warning. I need to toughen up if I am going to continue doing it....but honestly Its not my favorite thing. However, I do feel fabulous when I get to help a student struggling and help get them where they need to be.

LovingPeds, MSN, APRN, NP · May 4, 2020

Yes! That is the other important thing. It's really hard to teach when you have an unsupportive administrative faculty. I was fortunate that mine was supportive. I'm giving it one more try because I did enjoy helping the students when they struggled.

eggyweggy, MSN, RN · May 16, 2020

Adjunct clinical teaching is a great way to test the waters and see if you enjoy teaching with a relatively short commitment. I work 0.9 FTE at my primary job and teach clinical one day per week. It works out to about 44 hours a week, but my primary job is a mix of 8's and 12's so I still get 2 days off per week most weeks.

HiddencatBSN, BSN · May 26, 2020

I taught clinicals fo two semesters and don’t plan to again. It was not a ton of extra work but I had very minimal support from the school and had to figure everything out for myself including what my specific responsibilities were grading wise. The school was disorganized and kept trying to add commitments beyond what I had been told about when I signed up (initially told no on campus expectation, then sent an email with the dates I was scheduled to be on campus with a week’s notice). When clinicals ended because of COVID we heard nothing until suddenly there was an email with again just a few days notice that we needed to prep virtual clinicals using simulation software and case studies and expect to spend 6-7 hours doing zoom simulation and discussion with our students, nevermind whether we had the physical space or resources for that let along the time to learn the simulation software, preview the simulations, plan for discussion material to fill that time......which was so far beyond the time commitment I’d agreed to.

I liked the teaching well enough but I definitely prefer precepting or teaching 1:1 to a group, especially when the clinical times hit low census time for the unit and I have students with no patients twiddling our thumbs. I also had zero desire to be as strict as I was apparently expected to be with them- I had a couple of students who needed slight accommodations for medical and religious needs and they seemed so anxious approaching me at the beginning of clinical about it and it was really not a big deal or anything that would detract from their learning.

It did make me realize that when we were all frustrated as students because of how disorganized things seemed, it was because things likely WERE disorganized. Also, it seems like these jobs are largely word of mouth and that there’s always need for clinical instructors especially in specialty areas. The hardest part of the schedule for me was working nights and having to fit an early am clinical in to my life (well aside from the “completely rebuild a clinical curriculum you have no model for in a couple of days if you please).

Heylove, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jul 7, 2020

I work weekend option and have been a clinical instructor one day per week for the last two semesters. In the fall I will have two clinical days per week, but added a L&D clinical for three weeks as well. It works out perfectly for my schedule.