degree and job outlook of staff development

[flowerpottop22]

Hello!

I was wondering what degree you need to become a nurse staff developer. I assume you need your masters. Would you get your masters in education?

and how is the job outlook for nurse staff development? If I got a masters in education I would want to do this not end up teaching at a school because I couldn't' find a job.

Thanks!!

[passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN]

A masters in education would be optimal but I have seen a lot of RN's with staff development jobs with a BSN, experience also weighs in on the decision on who to hire.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Some schools let you focus more on Professional Development (Staff Develoment) within their Nursing Education programs than others. So be sure to ask about that if/when you start seriously considering schools. The 2 fields (Academic Education and Nursing Professional Development) have some overlapping content ... but they are really quite different in many ways, are based on the practice standards from different professional organizations, etc.

Also, some people get the Master's or DNP with a more clinical focus and take Continuing Education courses to help them learn about NPD (Nursing Professionl Developmen.) Others do general "Nursing Leadership" tracks for their MSN to learn about project management, evaluating the quality of care, etc. They then take educatinal electives or continuing education courses to fill in the missing education content. Nurses with a CNL are also well-positioned for staff development roles.

If you haven't done so, you should probably explore the Association of Nursing Professional Development (ANPD). That's the specialty organization for those of us in the field.

[suztaylor]

I feel that if you really have a passion to teach you will also want to be able to develop curriculum for courses that will be effective for the transfer of learning. To do that, you need a Master's in Nursing Education so at least you can get theory and knowledge about developing objectives, teaching methodologies, and content in how to teach adult learners. So many of my fellow educators do not have this and they may be great at teaching but lack skills in course development, evaluation, and teaching strategies. At a minimum, all educators should have the Nursing Professional Development certification offered by ANPD. Once you have this degree and certification, I firmly believe more doors of opportunity will be open to you. Good luck with this!