Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a speech Tuesday that her department is looking to increase the salaries of nursing educators by an average of more than $2.4 million per year.
“In recent years, the salary of an advanced degree program in nursing has increased by an astonishing $2 million,” Burwell told the Congressional Gold Medal Breakfast in Washington.
“That is a big deal.
And it is a great deal for our country.
And we want to continue that growth, which is why we are investing in our nursing education and research.”
She added that the $2 billion investment will allow nursing educators to spend more time on the job, and she added that it will help them provide “a better learning environment for our nursing students.”
Nursing education programs in nursing care facilities have seen an increase in staffing costs and staffing needs, according to the American Association of Colleges and Surgeons.
According to the APA, nursing education programs are now more than four times more expensive per enrollee than in 2010.
“Nursing education is more complex, but there are some important points to keep in mind,” said Dr. Elizabeth O’Brien, vice president of health care and nursing at the APAs National Nurses Union.
“First, if you are a nursing educator, you have to have a bachelor’s degree or a certificate of nursing in order to work as a nurse in a nursing facility.
And that means you can’t get a job with an employer that doesn’t offer a bachelor or associate degree.”
“It is the most expensive career in nursing, and that is a very difficult reality to face,” O’Connor added.
“It’s one of the hardest jobs you can have, but you need to be ready for it.
You have to be able to make a living, and you have got to be prepared to take on the kind of responsibilities that you are called to.”
In a statement to ABC News, the American Nurses Association said, “The fact that we have to make this choice is an insult to the nurses that work so hard every day.
It also shows the disrespect that we hold nurses.
These are the nurses who make the health care decisions for our patients and their families, and these are the RNs who make sure that they are not left out when decisions need to make.”
The nursing education program in question is the National Institutes of Health’s Nursing Education Program (NEP), which was established in 2002.
The current salary is $2.,400 per year, according the U in the Nursing Care of the Nation: Nurses, March 2018.
(H/T: CBS News) (This post has been updated to clarify the APs national nurses union position.)
