Becoming a Nurse Educator

[xhalox]

I'd really love some advice! I am currently in an MSN program to become a nurse educator. I'm wondering, do I have the experience to be beneficial to any future students or to even get a job as a teacher? I graduated in 2012 with my BSN. I worked for 6 months on a med-surg floor where I discovered floor nursing made me miserable. I then worked for a physician's office which coordinated hospital procedures for special needs patients, and I am now working in pre-op, PACU, and a few times a month I work in a GI lab. I still have several years to go before graduating with my MSN, but being that I don't have much floor experience will this be enough to help my students? I love teaching and from what I have seen students are not given a very helpful or nurturing environment in nursing school. I am hoping to facilitate a positive environment for students. I want to have enough diversity to help students, but I also want to avoid having to go through years of working on the floor to get enough experience. Please help with advice!

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

Honestly, you do not sound like you'd be the ideal educator.

[mkrn32]

My goal for the future is to become a nurse educator, as well, but I was told by ALL of my professors in nursing school that you must work at a hospital MINIMUM two years though of course every situation is different. How can you expect to teach students things you haven't experienced yourself? I'm not one to talk as I am currently in an outpatient setting as well as a new grad. Looking to move to acute care but the job market is tough for ADNs where I live. Have you looked into maybe teaching CPR or CNA classes just to get your feet wet and see really if you like it?

[SmilingBluEyes]

Students will respect experience. Lacking that, you won't be a very effective educator, I am afraid. Give yourself a bit more time on the floor/in nursing practice. Don't give up the dream, just put in the time to make it realistic. Some of the most memorable teaching moments and lectures came from anecdotes/stories from my instructors based on their real-world experiences.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with the previous posters. In order to be a good teacher, you need more than just a degree. You have to be at least competent in the area of practice that you are going to teach. You need both teaching competence and competence in a content area.

[ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN]

Xhalox,

I am not sure where you live, but here in Indiana, most schools require at least two years of experience in the area in which you will teach. The experience must be recent, generally within the last five years. Perhaps you can pick up some agency work while in school in order to gain med/surg experience. I get calls all of the time to teach med/surg, community nursing, and psych. Generally, full-time educators also teach clinical in addition to didactic. The very last thing you want to happen is if you are demonstrating how to drop an NG and don't know how to do it. You would lose credibility with the students. I still pick up PRN shifts to stay current with practice.

Good luck in your future career aspirations.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I now work as an educator. We require a minimum of 5-7 solid years of nursing experience, additional specialty certifications and some proven teaching experience with adults.

You need the theoretical and the clinical piece in order to be successful and credible with your peers.

Additionally, do you know your subject material well enough to do a last minute presentation? Can you help on the floor if needed? Can you locate relevant policy in 5 minutes?

[squidbillies]

I think you could fudge your way into a job, although you might need to start out by teaching something really basic, like "the role of the healthcare professional" at an online school or something (not that that class isn't intense and purposeful). I think you would have problems with anything that goes into much depth though- students have a lot of questions about everything and if you cant answer them... eeek. Personally, I hate floor nursing, but I think it's necessary for most things. Can you find an area that interests you somewhat and do it for a little while to gain some knowledge? If you at least have a specialty, you can market yourself towards that.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

You could be hired somewhere as an educator, but it won't be long before people realize that you aren't suitable. Is this the impression you want to make?

[RainMom]

IDK. The director of my program (& an instructor) had no acute experience & had a public health/school nursing background. She was fantastic & taught psych along with being clinical instructor 1st semester in LTC. Another of my fave's had pretty much only worked surgery as 1st assist & at the office; minimal to no floor experience, but very knowledgable.

[elkpark]

Xhalox,

I am not sure where you live, but here in Indiana, most schools require at least two years of experience in the area in which you will teach. The experience must be recent, generally within the last five years.

And, in my experience, the schools advertise a minimum requirement of two years clinical experience, but the people who actually get hired into the teaching positions have significantly more than that.

[thekidisback]

I have 5 years experience in the hospital working on a telemetry, med-surg unit. I trained a bit in the MICU and CCU. I'm currently in a BSN program and planning to pursue my Master's but not yet sure if I want informatics or Education. I'm considering nurse educator because I precepted new grad nurses and realized I really like to teach in the clinical setting! Not sure if I should be a clinical instructor for a school of nursing or be a nurse educator in the hospital. Which one is better? Which usually pays more?