A nurse educator instructs nurses with varying levels of education and experience. He or she must both create and teach the curricula for a specific degree program. Nurse educators also assess students’ progress and, if necessary, revise courses. A master’s degree in nursing education is usually required to teach nurses at the bachelor’s degree level. A master’s degree in nursing is frequently required to teach nurses at the doctoral level.
Nurse educators, also known as nursing teachers, work in teaching hospitals as faculty. A nurse educator must be a registered nurse (RN) with at least a master’s degree in nursing. Nurse educators may instruct aspiring nurses fresh out of high school or experienced nurses pursuing a master’s degree. A nursing teacher can create individual courses for nurses in addition to designing and implementing educational programs.
Nursing professors are role models for other nurses. They work to instill professionalism and pride in their students as well as teach courses related to the scientific and medical aspects of nursing. Nurse educators instill in nursing students the value of providing high-quality patient care and treating patients with dignity.
The specific responsibilities of a nurse educator are determined the needs of the hospital. Some qualified nurse educators, for example, focus on patient care and teach patients about their diseases rather than teaching nurses. In this position, a nursing teacher develops new patient education programs for the hospital and oversees their implementation.
A certified nurse educator can specialize in patient education for a specific disease or disorder (CNE). Certification usually entails passing an exam and logging 1,000 teaching hours, as well as prior experience working with patients suffering from the condition for which the nursing teacher is seeking certification. Nurse educators interested in specializing in diabetes education, for example, may volunteer to work with diabetic patients at the hospital where they work as nurses to fulfill their required teaching hours.
Some nurse educators prefer to focus their efforts on research studies, which may or may not be incorporated into the nursing program curricula they create. If a nurse educator is involved in nonprofit community health education projects, he or she may be in charge of grant writing. Nursing professors from all areas participate in lecturing at annual nursing conferences.