EP 126: Why Isn’t Nursing in STEM With Tina Vinsant
In this episode, we would like to introduce the host of The Good Nurse, Bad Nurse Podcast. This podcast uses storytelling and conversation to encourage and unite nurses and other medical professionals.
Tina Vinsant is a CVICU nurse that has turned to travel nursing. She is currently pursuing her MSN with an Emphasis on care coordination.
Podcast: Anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Website: goodnursebadnurse.com
FB and Twitter: GNBNPodcast
The nursing degree not being considered “STEM” in academic institutions by the Federal Government.
“STEM” is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
The term STEM describes education policy, teaching and learning strategies, and curriculum choices from preschool to post-doctorate that drive a pedagogy of an integrated curriculum.
This approach is intended to foster innovation and promote competitiveness in science and technology. Being designated as a STEM discipline has implications for workforce development, funding, and immigration policy.
Defining nursing as a STEM discipline is important if it determines the validation of our profession as a scientific discipline, attracts the brightest and best students, and ensures the flow of resources to advance the role of nurses in policy, practice, education, and research.
Research shows that Nursing should be included in the STEM curriculum https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31800109/
https://mentornet.org/service/stem_fields.html
https://www.excelsior.edu/article/nursing-as-a-stem-field/
Why is nursing still not considered STEM?
Nurses are being treated like professionals rather than hourly labor.
Hourly Pros
Hourly employees can significantly increase their weekly pay by lobbying for extra hours. Employers naturally wish to give additional hours to staffers that want them.
Furthermore, some hourly employees have the fortune of working for companies that will pay them double time.
Hourly Cons
On the downside, some companies keep costs down by disallowing hourly employees from working overtime.
Hourly employees can sometimes fall short of their traditional 40-hour work weeks if the medical centers are slow and they are sent home early or even called off.
This means that although these workers receive a steady paycheck for each hour in which they work.
It’s also possible for them to come up on the wrong side with the hours necessary to live comfortably, as most salaried professionals do.
Because there aren’t any set limits on how many hours one may put in per week or month.
What you would find among other types of employment agreements such as pensions and benefits packages.
These things just don’t exist when an employee is paid only based on time spent rather than actual wages earned.
Salary Pros
Salaried employees have many benefits that make them a better option than hourly workers. Salaried workers often enjoy greater security in their paychecks and higher overall income because of the steady paycheck.
They are able to pull in more money when given bonuses or vacation time. All of which are unavailable for an hourly worker.
Salary Cons
Salaried employees will not receive overtime pay, so this is why many people are wary about taking salaried positions because there may always be that pressure from bosses to put forth all effort without receiving a paycheck bump in addition to higher wages for anything over 40 hours worked per week.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average American workers receive 10 days of paid time off per year, after they’ve completed one year of service.
The survey reports that salary employees receive an average of 12 days of vacation after one year of service.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-much-vacation-time-and-pay-do-employees-get-2064018
Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants – Scope of practice…scope creep. Name change for PAs from Physician Assistant to Physician Associate. Using the term ‘mid-level when referring to NPs and PAs).
Learn why Nursing is not part of STEM in this full episode. Click here for more 👇👇👇
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 A quick word for American Nurse Association
0:55 Introduction with the hosts/affiliates/updates
14:25 The nursing degree is not considered “STEM” in academic institutions by the Federal Government. 23:16 Nurses are being treated as professionals rather than hourly labor.
24:09 Hourly Pros
30:36 Salary Pros / Salary Cons
40:57 Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
51:28 Concluding Statement and Thoughts