The shortage of nurses in the current times across various areas of healthcare highlights why nurse educators are essential in healthcare. In hospitals, patients with serious injuries and medical conditions require experienced and qualified staff to treat them. The high-quality care that patients need is only possible if you have nurses with the most advanced knowledge.
The role of nurse educators is essential to ensure that nurses have the right knowledge and skills to work in the dynamic healthcare environment. Their job is to strengthen the workforce and provide the leadership needed to implement evidence-based practices. They work in both clinical and classroom settings, but the end goal is to prepare the future generation of nurses. Their job becomes more serious as more nurses retire at the end of their service years. Hence, if new nurses are not present to take various nursing positions, the gap will continue to widen.
A sneak peek into nursing shortage numbers
According to statistical data, 1.1 million more nurses will be needed in the coming years to make up for the demand and replace aging nurses. But most alarming is the fact that there are more vacant positions than nurses available to fill those positions. Take the example of Registered Nurses; their employment might increase by 9%, which is five times less than the rate at which new nursing jobs are added into the sector. So, if you don’t have qualified nurse educators, who will train new nurses to assume their positions? Nursing shortage can have a serious impact on the quality of patient care. It is no longer time to debate over nurse administrator vs nurse practitioner roles and the pros and cons of each position because healthcare needs nurses at all levels and positions. To know more about why nurse educators are important, continue reading.
- High-responsibilities educational roles
Nurse educators are known for their high-responsibility roles. They play a part in developing an effective nursing curriculum and nursing studies and courses, teaching, and evaluating learning. They also document the nursing education outcomes and the efficacy of the nursing curricula in meeting the patient care needs. Their job is to pursue constant quality control measures to improve nursing studies. They teach in nursing schools and community colleges and work with other faculty members to maintain the quality of education.
- Their role as collaborators
They often play the role of collaborators who bring together other professionals and build meaningful partnerships. Apart from the staff and faculty members, they also collaborate with students learning from them or other professionals. Hence, they prepare students to work in a collaborative environment where many professionals across different areas work together.
- Encourage students to identify their potential
Apart from their educational roles, they have advisory roles too. They guide students to engage in socially responsible work that impacts the communities. They also have the duty to participate in professional associations and encourage students to be part of discussion forums. These activities can help students identify their true potential and areas where they can excel.
- Role model for students in the educational and clinical setting
Nurse educators are roles model for students who will soon become an integral part of healthcare. Their mentorship and guidance have far-reaching impacts on students. The same principles are being implemented later in professional life. Their importance amplifies in the clinical settings because the students look towards their teachers for feedback and as critiques of their services. Their mentorship helps novice nurses excel in decision making, patient care, and patient interaction.
- Prepare Future leaders
Leaders are not always born; they often develop over time. Individuals become leaders by equipping students with the right knowledge, concepts, skills, and simulations. Nurse educators prepare future leaders. They introduce management and organizational theories to today’s nursing students. Their mentorship helps them overcome the challenges that leaders might face in today’s environment. Based on the strong training imparted by experienced nurse educators, novice nurses are ready to take up challenging roles. Nurse students learn to make effective patient care decisions, improve patient care quality, and evaluate patient care outcomes to modify their future interventions.
- Help in the implementation of evidence-based practices
The implementation of evidence-based practices is a hot topic in healthcare. You can no longer implement old and obsolete practices not backed by any research. Without nurses educators, healthcare might be blind to the effective implementation of evidence-based practices. They prepare their students to critically evaluate the research findings and gauge their feasibility of practical implementation. Implementation of evidence-based practices can bring promising results for nurses as it can help them perform their job effectively. Nurses who use evidence-based practices are better decision-makers and problem solvers.
How to become a nurse educator?
Becoming a nurse educator does not require you to leave your work in the clinical setting. Many nurses continue to work as patient care providers alongside their job in academia. The educational requirements are not very tricky either. You must be an RN, after which you need to have an MSN degree. However, many universities and nursing schools may require a doctorate for teaching. You can get into an MSN program after earning a BSN degree. You can also enroll in an RN to MSN nurse practitioner program. In the latter option, you spend less time as it is a fast-track program.
What skills do nurse educators require?
The job of nurse educators is crucial for healthcare as it intends to develop talent that will ultimately serve in healthcare. Therefore, they need a set of skills to excel in their role. They need effective communication skills to impart learning to their students. Effective communication helps them understand the concerns of their students and guide them in the right manner.
More work is organized around teams and needs the collaboration of functional groups. Therefore, management and organizing skills help them with interpersonal skills, work in teams and collaborate with other professionals. Time management is another skill nurse educators require. They should be able to effectively split their time for various mentoring responsibilities in educational institutions and clinical duties in hospitals.
Conclusion
The need for qualified nurse educators is very urgent. It won’t take long before the shortage of skilled nurses starts impacting the quality of care current nurses provide. Overworking can exhaust them immensely, leading to costly clinical mistakes. Nurses educators are needed to train new nurses, manage the current nurse’s burden, and optimize the nurse-to-patient ratio in hospitals.
