A nurse educator is an advanced practice registered nurse who works in the education field.
These nurses teach students about the nursing practice and help them prepare for roles within the nursing field such as becoming a licensed practical nurse (LPN’s), registered nurse (RN’s) or a nurse practitioner (NP’s).
Most nurse educators begin their career as registered nurses and work in the field for several years in order to gain the experience and training necessary to be effective as a nurse educator.
After spending several years in the nursing field potential nurse educators will likely go back to school to earn their MSN or DNP degree so that they can begin their career as a nurse educator.
When it comes to employment nurse educators may work in a number of different educational settings such as colleges or universities, nursing schools, educational hospitals and various other educational institutes geared towards nurse education.
Responsibilities may include preparing coursework material for students, performing lectures, developing lesson plans, assigning homework and class assignments, overseeing class projects, grading tests, evaluating student performance, preparing students for the NCLREX-RN exam, tutoring and performing other classroom/education based tasks that can help students succeed in school.
Nurse educators may choose to either focus on teaching general nursing education or choose to focus on a specific career field within nursing such as pediatric care, psychiatric care, geriatrics, forensics or trauma among other specialized fields.
With the current status of the nursing field the job outlook for nurse educators will continue to expand considerably as colleges, universities and other educational health care organizations require more nursing instructors and teachers to fill educational roles within their organization.
Even today thousands of students get turned down annually for nursing programs due to a lack of teaching staff and an inability to provide adequate training and education to an expanding number of nursing students.
In order to continue filling seats and aiding growing populations/student admissions more nurse educators will be required which means better opportunities for career advancement, increased pay and better benefits for those who work in the educational field.
In the United States nurse educators can expect to earn an annual income of around $70,000 however annual income may vary anywhere from $45,000 – $135,000 or more depending on the nurse educators education level, years of experience, state and organization of employment, agreed upon salary and any overtime, benefits or perks the nurse educator may have been accrued over the year.
Nurse educators are essential for the growth of the nursing industry and the health of the economy.
Without them students would not receive the education they need to become nurses and thousands of jobs would remain vacant due to a lack of qualified nurses.
Nurse educators are the backbone of nursing education and the future of students who aspire to become useful, competent and educated nurses in all facets of the health care industry.