Unlike many medication dosage formulas, the math about how to fill the gradually growing number of available nursing jobs is simple. In order to graduate nursing students into the workforce, nursing schools need to be able to accept more students. And in order to make a dent into those increasingly common nursing school waiting lists, schools need nursing instructors.
The main challenge faced by understaffed nursing schools, is making instructor jobs attractive enough for nurses to leave (or cut back to part time) hospital and clinical jobs with higher salaries. Some U.S. states are providing financial support for nursing schools by offering additional financial incentives for nurses who choose to teach. In Rhode Island, a legislative commission created to find solutions for that state’s nursing shortage, has proposed a $3,500 tax credit for nursing instructors.
The idea is that with the tax credit, the salary disparities between being a clinical nurse and a nursing instructor would be much less. In Texas, lawmakers have already passed a bill that gives nursing schools financial incentives that would help them hire more instructors.
Although many new nursing school graduates are having trouble finding their dream jobs at the moment, industry forecasts predict a need for significantly more nurses to keep up with health care demands in the coming years. But, in order to translate those waiting lists into actual nurses who can meet this demand, there need to be enough nursing instructors to meet the mandated ten to one student to teacher ratio.
While educators and lawmakers are doing their parts to make this happen, the best thing aspiring nursing students can do is get on the waiting list. Then, use that time to gain as much health care experience in other positions (such as certified nurse’s aide), so that when your school of choice does have an opening, you are the most qualified applicant to fill it.
This is how a recent conversation with a relative who was seeking medical advice started. I’ve always found it amazing how those series of letters after my name (RN BSN) translate into a combination of “webmd,” “ask jeeves,” and “wikipedia” all in one. Of course with the intensive curriculum, covering everything from nutrition and sociology to pathophysiology and microbiology, it is easy to feel like a walking encyclopedia.
