One of the major causes for the nursing shortage is the low pay of nurse educators. Retention rates for these professionals are abysmal. What sorts of incentives should be used to increase the number of nurse educators?

As a nurse educator, I can say that my salary when I started (and I have a BSN, just started on my master's-makes a difference) was about equal to what it was when I left the hospital working the night shift with eight years of experience. My employer does offer full tuition reimbursement for masters' degrees and just began reimbursemnt for a limited number of doctoral degrees per year. I also get mileage and parking reimbursemnt because of having to travel some distance away for clinical experiences. As far as the rest of the perks, the staff in general has input into journals that are ordered, we get complimentary copies of textbooks and teaching materials, we rotate going to conferences, but we are not reimbursed for other things, such as voluntary certifications, licensure fees, and professional organization fees. We also do not get a clothing allowance, and many of us have two wardrobes-a professional one for everyday office and lecturing and a more hospital friendly one including lab coat for clinical days.