Nurse educators play an important and essential role in the healthcare industry.
It is their job to strengthen the nursing workforce, provide the necessary leadership for the implementation of evidence-based practice and serve as role models.
Nurse educators are preparing and mentoring the next generation of nurses both in classrooms and in practice settings.
Certificate programs or advanced degrees that focus on nursing education such as the University of Indianapolis post-master’s DNP give nurses the chance to advance in their career and play a crucial part in providing healthcare education for several generations to come.
These courses serve to prepare candidates for the nurse educator position by focusing on the foundations of educational theory for innovative curriculum design and evaluation, information on legalities in nursing and a nursing faculty role practicum.
Nurse educators put their nursing expertise to use by teaching the field to the next generation of nurses. While many may work at universities and colleges, others work in clinical environments.
Nurse educators may also be responsible for developing coursework for nurses who are just starting their education journey or assisting RNs who are recently licensed in improving their skills and knowledge.
Nurse educators may also provide help to grad students wanting to take an advanced degree or nursing professionals who wish to gain certification within specialized fields.
In today’s world, it is also important for nurse educators to have the ability to teach their students online as well as in-person.
What duties does a nurse educator perform?
Nurse educators are RNs, meaning that their education incorporates advanced clinical training within a healthcare facility. They serve in a number of different roles including deans of nursing colleges and working as part-time clinic faculty.
The responsibilities of a nurse educator can include everything from developing course curricula, giving instruction via lectures and supervising research and student internships to developing programs and courses of study, evaluating student progress and learning, recording student outcomes and overseeing laboratory and clinical work.
Nurse educators can also provide assistance to both practicing nurses and students by addressing their individual learning strengths, weaknesses and styles. In addition to teaching, nurse educators within academic settings also have other responsibilities, including advising students, communicating with professional associations and using their leadership role to contribute to the academic community.
They can also maintain clinical effectiveness and efficacy, conduct clinical research, present or lecture at nursing conferences, participate in peer reviews and write grant proposals.
The most successful nurse educators have excellent communication skills, as it is crucial for them to have the ability to convey their teaching expectations and goals to students in a clear manner.
Another essential skill for nurse educators is time management, as they will be splitting their attention and time between the healthcare professionals or faculty they regularly work with and the students they are teaching.
Nurse educator roles
There are three main roles a nurse educator can perform: collaborator, role model and director of student learning.
Collaborators
A nurse educator is a collaborator with the ability to build partnerships and bring people together.
In addition to nursing, staff nurse educators also coordinate student learning with teachers across all disciplines while ensuring that students are ready to work as a team in environments where such collaborative relationships have been shown to have a direct link to superior patient outcomes.
Directors of student learning
The role of a director of student learning is to support the development of curricula, programs and staff. A faculty member that is in this position needs to have graduate level courses not just in nursing but also in education.
Student role models
Nurse educators offer continuing mentorship and set an example for students throughout a multitude of hands-on learning stages.
This is a particularly important position for clinical development, as students will expect to receive feedback from their teachers about decision making, health assessments and patient interaction.
Faculty role models
Experienced nurse educators can also serve as a role model for newer members of the faculty as well as students. Nurse educators spearhead a culture of learning, which can inspire improvements in the delivery of nursing education.
Hospitals
Nurse educators play a slightly different role within the setting of a hospital as instead of being instructors to students who are just starting out in their education, they are there to support registered, working nurses via experiential learning.
Supporting growth
Nurse educators work with their teams and alongside other members of staff in order to assess the capabilities of each student.
This information gathering in tandem with direct observations enables feedback to be provided on how students can improve within a healthcare setting.
Student evaluation areas could include how effective they are in the application of patient-centric care, their ability to independently implement and follow up on nursing evaluations, and their ability to document patient actions, diagnosis, history, status and summary of care in an accurate manner.
In addition to student development, nurse educators also have a role in supporting the professional development of healthcare teams.
This can involve the organization of educational seminars and team building exercises for colleagues and nursing staff.
Research
Nurse educators also serve as patient advocates, advisors and collaborators with regards to research and make a fine resource for nurses that are working on clinical research, being able to answer questions and make certain that patients are receiving the necessary protection.
What is required to be a nurse educator?
In order to work in a teaching role, nurse educators need to have passed the relevant exams.
They will have to be capable of designing, implementing and evaluating academic curricula as well as continuing nursing education programs.
Nurse educators must work with students at a number of different learning levels from associate degree through to doctoral programs and are also responsible for training professionals who use continuing education to update their knowledge.
Nurse educators may also find employment conducting research, writing grant proposals and presenting and speaking at conferences.
