4 Nurse Educator Jobs You Can Find in Hospitals
Career News October 23, 2013Introduction
Nurse educators get the opportunity to combine their enthusiasm for teaching with their clinical expertise. Those working in a hospital setting are responsible for educating today’s and tomorrow’s nurses. Nurse educators are role models providing the leadership needed to implement evidence-based practice.
Nurse educators, who practice in hospitals, need to anticipate changes so they can design programs to prepare nurses to meet challenges they will encounter. Some of their responsibilities include planning educational programs for staff with varying levels of expertise, developing and managing budgets, and negotiating for resources and support in a competitive environment where education is not a priority.
Adult Nurse Practitioner – Rehab Hospital
The Adult Nurse Practitioner has many areas of responsibility, which are educational, clinical and research oriented, and may work collaboratively or independently. Practice components include physical assessment, interviewing, diagnosis, treatment planning, teaching, collaborating, consulting, evaluation, research, and emergency management.
Qualifications: State Licensing is required. The NP must be a Graduate of an NLN approved Adult, Family, Geriatric or Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program and certified by the American Nurse Association. A MSN is required, and a minimum of 5 years acute care experience is preferred. Areas of expertise should include physical assessment, diagnosis and treatment of adult geriatric population. Candidates must be able to handle stress, be flexible, and have excellent communication skills and leadership ability.
The Adult Nurse Practitioner is a role model for clinical excellence and best professional practices. In the educator role, the NP consults with nursing staff on an individual basis in order to identify any educational needs. The NP also is a preceptor for nursing students and assists with program planning to meet patient and family requirements.
Educator Responsibilities
•Provides individual consultation conferences with nursing staff and management to identify specific learning needs and methods/resources to meet these needs
•Acts as a preceptor for graduate nursing students
•Assists with planning and delivery of programs to meet patient and family needs
•Supports, participates in and contributes to educational programs for staff at the unit, departmental and interdepartmental levels
•Facilitates networking with health care resources in the community
•Demonstrates knowledge of current trends in health care and implication for nursing practice
•Addresses ethical issues in patient care and nursing practice
Teaching Hospital Faculty Developer
A small number of teaching hospitals in the US offer ongoing faculty development to improve teaching skills. Continued and proven progress is likely to increase institutional commitment and provide improved resources for Faculty Developer instructors and funding. Education is a crucial mission at every teaching hospital. Providing clinical teachers with necessary teaching skills and a continuous improvement process is essential.
Unit-based Educators (UBEs) are instructors and they are responsible for facilitating evidenced-based research in specialized nursing areas. They incorporate nursing processes into a care plan for a specialized group of patients. They ensure compliance with hospital procedures and guidelines. Patient care assignment may include geriatric, adult, adolescent, pediatric, infant or pediatric age groups.
UBES provide educational leadership and collaborate with Specialty RNs and Unit Directors, Clinical Nurse Specialists and Clinical Educators, to plan and implement relevant curricula.
In addition, the UBEs focus on improving patient safety by evaluating policies and procedures related to current national standards, identifying and correcting environmental conditions that may endanger patient health, by reporting potential or actual patient safety concerns, and encouraging patients to actively participate in their own care.
Nurse Educator for Pediatric Oncology
A Nurse Educator is a nurse with previous educational experience whose focus is on staff development and nursing education. Working across areas, the NE functions as an educator, role model, patient advocate and consultant.
Working with nursing leaders, the Nurse Educator designs, constructs, implements, and evaluates a variety of educational plans, in order to improve nursing care and patient health. The Nurse Educator improves professional nursing practices by developing and mentoring staff to become superior clinicians and leaders.
Conclusion
Many educational jobs, that hospitals offer, are challenging, high demand career opportunities for nurses with advanced degrees.
