Clinical Educator vs Staff Development

As a general rule -- and you seem to aware that things will vary from place to place -- "Clinical Educator" roles are closer to the bedside than other staff development roles. In a Clinical Educator role, you are more likely to be working 1 on 1 with a nurse at the bedside, teach, coaching, maybe precepting, etc. -- or working "1 step back" from the bedside, supporting the preceptors, overseeing the orientees, etc. You may be taking care of the inservice on the new piece of equipment or making sure people get checked off on competencies, etc.

In a "Professionaro Development" role ... you might be doing all the same things as the "Clinical Educator" I described above. However, when a facility has both types of educators, then the Staff Development Specialist (or whatever) is usually the one at either a slighter higher level and/or a little further from the bedside. Overseeing orientation, teaching classroom courses, planning and evaluating large-scale educational activities, teaching leadership classes, preceptor prep classes, etc. Less hands-on at the bedside, more planning, teaching, and evaluating larger scale projects.

In some places, the Clinical Educators report to the clinical unit -- and are required to work weekends, holidays, off-shifts, etc. They may be required to take a patient assignment when things get busy and/or a staff member is sick. The Professional Development person might report to a central education department and help out clinically occasionally, but not be as obligated to do so on a regular basis or be "in the staff count" for patient care shifts, do nights, weekends, holidays, etc.

As you know, the particulars vary widely from position to position -- but that's the general gist that is commonly found. Always be clear on who the position reports to and what their priorities are for the particular position in question.

I am going to finish my NP in two years. Education and patient advocacy is my passion. Working with nurses to achieve both would also work from the ground up and make a broader impact. What are your suggestions for focus?

If you want to be a nurse educator (either in Staff Development or in a university) ... you should be taking courses on nursing education and getting practice being an educator. Unfortunately, you are probably not getting much, if any, of that in your NP program.

Which role do you really want to fulfill as your primary role? The direct patient care role as an NP? ... or a nurse-educator role? That should determine your choice of graduate programs. If you are passionate more passionate about teaching than providing direct primary care to patients, why did you choose an NP program?

If you are more interested in patient education (and not nursing education), there are programs and courses that focus on that. Find one and take it.

NP's sometimes get staff education jobs. But when they do, they need to "play catch up" to learn to be an educator. If that is what you want to do ... look for classes in nursing education that you can take as electives in your NP program... or simply as extra classes. You can also find continuing education programs.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I don't understand why you are investing in an NP program if being an NP is not your passion. If education is your passion, focus on that.