Nursing is the nation’s largest health care profession, with more than 2.7 million registered nurses nationwide, and nursing students account for more than half of all health professions students in the United States. Applications to attend nursing schools continue to increase nicely but did you know that thousands of students are being turned away because of an acute shortage of Nursing Educators?

A study done by the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions indicates that by 2020, the U.S. nursing shortage will grow to more than 800,000 registered nurses. How can we put a serious dent in stemming this dangerous tide unless nurses take an active role in educating the nurses of tomorrow?

Becoming a Nurse Educator is a wonderful career step

Registered nurses ARE teachers! RNs teach patients and their families how to manage their illness or injury, including post-treatment home care needs, diet and exercise programs, and self-administration of medication and physical therapy. RNs mentor and precept new graduates and new hire staff as well as develop and implement ongoing continuing education activities within clinical settings. RNs combine their clinical expertise and passion for teaching others in thousands of ways every time they work.

Nurse Educators make use of that same clinical expertise and passion for teaching to guide and shape the future of the nursing profession- one student at a time!

Do you want to be doing direct patient care when you’re 63 and still waiting to be old enough to retire? I say leave bedside nursing to the younger nurses, give your sore back a rest, and turn your talents towards building the next generation of nurses instead!

Some RNs choose to advance their nursing career by moving into administrative or management positions, but the responsibilities and stress of management isn’t for everyone. For those RNs who would enjoy keeping in touch with direct patient care and in shaping the future of nursing the best career path to think about is becoming a nurse educator!

Given the growing shortage of nurse educators, the career outlook is strong for nurses interested in teaching careers. Nursing schools nationwide are struggling to find new faculty to accommodate the rising interest in nursing among new students.

Career Flexibility

Most nurse educators work in colleges and universities that offer associate and baccalaureate programs in nursing, and some work as instructors for LPN courses while educators involved in clinical education also work at collaborating health care facilities. A Master’s degree in nursing is typically required to become a faculty member at a university but RNs with a Bachelors degree in nursing and clinical experience are the minimum basic requirements for clinical instructors.

Nurse educators can work as full time faculty with all the benefits including tenure and retirement, or may choose to work as part time faculty while still continuing clinical employment and direct patient care. Nurse educators play a vital role in preparing and shaping future generations of nurses!

Earn an NLN accredited Master’s in Nursing Education Degree While You Work

You can earn an accredited Master’s Degree in Nursing with a specialization in education or in health education online while maintaining your current job by investing just a few hours of study time per week through several schools.

Don’t have a BSN Degree?

There’s a fully accredited RN to MS in Nursing program that allows busy nurses to take the fast track to earning their Masters in Nursing. Students earn both degrees in a fraction of the time at 1/2 the cost of traditional programs and don’t have to give up their job to do it.

Make a difference today that will impact the entire profession for years to come. Become a Nurse Educator!

For Additional Information about NLN Accredited Online Nursing Degrees and programs including LPN to RN/BSN, RN – BSN Degrees, Specialty Nursing Certification in Forensic Nursing, Legal Nurse Consulting, and Advanced Practice Nursing visit Medi-Smart’s Online Nursing School Directory.

Copyright 2006 Medi-Smart.com. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the article is published in its entirety with all hyperlinked text intact.

Nursing now presents a very good career field. If you are interested in becoming a nurse there are many opportunities for you to choose from. You could work in a hospital, a doctor’s office or even travel around the world with your nursing skills. There is currently a high demand for nursing jobs therefore many training programs are available including online nursing degree programs. With online nursing degree programs you can earn a nursing degree regardless of where you live. The other benefit of an online program is you can learn at your own pace.

Now that there are so many online nursing programs you really need to do your research to decide which online nursing school you should choose. That’s what this article is about. This article gives you information on the things that you need to think about when you are choosing an online nursing school.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that the school is accredited. When a school is accredited it means that the school has met or exceeded nationally recognized standards in teaching. Accreditation of online nursing schools is not a requirement, that is why you need to be sure to check and make sure that whatever school you are interested in is accredited. This is important because employers like to higher nurses who have gotten their qualifications from an accredited school. In addition to your job search any credits that you get from an accredited online school should be transferable and this is not possible when you go to a school that has not been accredited.

Another thing to think about is how many students each teacher will be responsible for. To check on this just contact the Admissions department to see what the average student to teacher ratio is. This is important to consider because you want to make sure that the teacher does not have too many students that they will not be able to give your personal attention.

In order to become a licensed registered nurse in the United States you will need to pass an exam called the National Council Licenser Examination-Registered Nurse or NCLEX-RN for short. Therefore you want to make sure that you know what percentage of students graduating from the online school you are interested in actually pass this exam. This will give you a good idea as to how thoroughly this online school will prepare you for the examination. This is critical because if you do not pass the exam you cannot become a registered nurse.

The other thing you need to check into is if the school will require clinical assignments. If they do require a clinical assignment in a hospital you need to have transportation to get to these clinical assignments. If transportation is an issue or if other things in your life make it difficult to do a clinical assignment then you need to be able to work with the school to complete this requirement.

The best way to make a decision about an online nursing school is to be very familiar with every detail of what the requirements will be. The last thing you want to do is start this process and not be able to finish it due to something that you overlooked while researching for an online school.

There are approximately 3,000,000 RNs in the United States. That may sound like a lot but in actual fact; there is a shortage of young people going into the nursing profession. There is also the added problem of the older experienced RNs retiring within the next 5 to 7 years. Some hospitals rotate part time nurses as a solution but this may not be workable in the long term.

In the last 20 years there have been so many more opportunities for women in the work place that the nursing profession has suffered. We are in a position now that it is crucial to promote it widely and do what can be done to entice more people to take an interest in the nursing profession.

Fortunately the pay scale for qualified nurses has increased by as much as 12% in the last few years. Certification and geography play a big role in what kind of salary you can get. If you live in the New England or Pacific area, then the salaries are much higher. Also large hospitals with a high bed count typically pay more. And of course certification also makes a huge difference in salary. The range is huge. The average RN earns $40,000 to $58,000 per year. Specialty nurses can earn $65,000 to $80,000 per year depending again on certification and geography.

With the busy lifestyle we lead today, online courses are a great option, especially if you have children and want to further your education in a nursing career. There are several accredited online courses to help you achieve your goal. Your research skills can pay off big time if you do your homework and find the best online solution for you. Online courses now can get you Associate, Bachelor, Master, PhDs and more. There are also online sites that help you with your resume to help place you when you are ready.

If you are thinking about entering the nursing profession chances are you are a caring individual and want to help people. This I think is a wonderful gift you give of yourself and the health profession needs you. The word needs to get out to encourage young people to consider a nursing career for now and future health care.