prerequisite courses before she applied for the associate degree program in nursing, inspired by the impact of nurses who took care of her 4-year-old son when he needed a kidney operation at Randall Children’s Hospital. Limones, who has worked as a medical assistant for 15 years, was accepted to the Clackamas program on her first try. She knows that’s an unusual feat. “There are so many capable and qualified prospective nursing students who are not making the cut and it isn’t for lack of qualifications or ability. These are not incapable or incompetent pros- pects,” Limones said. “There are only so many seats and it really becomes discouraging.” Walker hopes to expand Clackamas’ open seats. In a perfect world, she’d offer 36 spots next fall and work to open 40, maybe 60 in the long-term. But this fall, Clackamas didn’t even have enough teachers for its typical enrollment. The school cut its usual 30 slots down to just 18, Walker said. “Trying to advertise and get nurses at the bedside to come teach with our students is like pull- ing teeth,” Walker said. “They can’t afford financially to take that pay cut, so they’re not going to come on full-time.”
NURSE EDUCATORS MAKE LESS Walker nearly turned down her position at Clackamas when the first offer from the school came in $30,000 lower than what she made nurs- ing full-time. Without picking up extra shifts, Walker could pull in $90,000. With extra shifts she made over $100,000. Full-time faculty at the school make somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 by comparison, Walker said.
Nursing program administrators around the state are hamstrung by that challenge. Janie Griffin, director of nursing at Columbia Gorge Community College, reminds prospective teachers that they get summers and most weekends off and can take nursing shifts on the side. “When you look at an ad and you see I’m going to make $20,000 less, (nurses say) ‘I’m not even going to apply,’” Griffin said. “I don’t know, how do we catch them and hook them and bring them in and say ‘Give it a try, I think you’ll like it?’” Oregon Health and Science University is working to boost the ranks of nurse educators through its Oregon Nursing Education Academy. The academy aims to train 63 new faculty members and 92 new supervising clinicians with a $4 million federal grant. Nurses accepted to the academy
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