Does anyone teach as part of their job?

[Atheos]

Are there any nurses hear that teach as part of their job or are employed as a nursing educator? I don't really mean teaching nursing school. I mean at their hospital or facility.

I have been recently helping our staff educator and have started a weight loss and health class for employees. They originally wanted a LPN to teach it since we have a LPN that lost 150+ pounds through surgery but they are letting me teach it because I lost 80 pounds the old fashion way.

It seems to be really fun teaching people. Does anyone else do stuff like this in nursing and do you enjoy it?? Is there a viable market for this kind of nurse? Maybe even a nurse that does health and fitness stuff?

[SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN]

I teach all the time as part of my job. I love it! As an RN with BSN, I can teach in other capacities, but at my job, I seem to excell in one area. Moreso than other nurses, I understand certain nuances of the task/requirement. Specifically I am speaking of the MDS. I love to teach the class because I bring out (first name only) examples from the facility, we review actual pages from the MDS, and I use the manual to demonstrate. Seeing the class understand the examples I am giving, or meet the resident I am speaking about and then they have an AHA!! its great. I teach the new employees as a mentor, and teach all manners of running a desk/unit. I am out of my scope, I am doing someone elses portion of the job, but I am enjoying the teaching part more than the daily drudgery!! I am not "used" which is something you ened to be careful of. I like it too much to give it up, despite multiple attempts. Even after switching shifts, I ended up coing in on alternative shifts to teach this class. Wouldnt trade it for the world!

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

As part of my job in a hospital clinic, I have to do a great deal of patient teaching-not sure if this is what you mean, though. We have to teach about age appropriate health maintainance, about the disease processes, medications/self administration of meds (such as insulin), diet, lifestyle changes and such. I also precept most of the new LPNs that are hired via agencies or regular employment. We do heath fairs in the summertime, and I teach about adult vaccines and age appropriate health screenings, such as PSA, BSE, examining testicles, cholesterol, and a host of other things.

In the past, our sister hospitals have had LPNs work as Diabetic Educators (but only RNs can be certified in Diabetic Educators). We have one that teaches how to start IV lines.

There are LPNs that teach CNAs and HHA (home heath aides) in their vocational training, medical assistants, certified CPR instructors and phlebotomy.

I LOVE teaching. I get great outcomes because I try and explain subjects as simple as possible without losing the meanings. Most come looking for me when they get a bit confused. It reinforces what I have learned and I also learn something new each time I teach because I get a chance to learn different teaching styles to reach people that don't understand, or at times, the patients come up with a phrase that is so catchy that I use it for my next session. I always take the time to obtain new information from reputable resources. The best thing you can do is take continuing education classes when you obtain your license, nursing journals and take whatever your facility offers; make friends with Nursing Staff Educators. They have loads of resources.