Interview for Perioperative Clinical Nurse Educator

theRNJedi · Mar 27, 2016

I've been a perianesthesia staff nurse, charge nurse, nurse manager, and nurse educator, and am now a Perianesthesia Professional Practice Leader and the educators report to me. In general, educators make less than managers and in many cases less than staff nurses...but that is variable depending on how the role is developed. (i.e., will you be floating into staffing, taking call, scope of responsibilities, partaking or leading quality initiatives, etc...) If the position is salaried then you may lose the potential for OT, but you also won't be vulnerable to low census and required to take call. But there are so many nuances and variation in this role from org to org, it's really hard to know how to speak to your personal org and opportunity.

As far as interviewing goes, I would present yourself as best you can and describe your aspirations for the role, and share your commitment to being an educator (as evidenced by pursuing a Master's in Education), and elaborating on your vision. If you know the unit, staff, and leadership...then you can isolate particularities about their current state that could be improved and describe how you could be an asset and benefit to them and contribute to the emerging themes and projects of the unit.

If you have never been an educator and this is your first time, then be upfront about your expected learning curve, but leverage that against the development and preparation your Master's program has given you (i.e. lesson plans, learning needs assessments, curriculum development, etc..) and your familiarity with the org, unit, and staff. (establish a good rapport, influence, workflow, etc...).

As to your question about salary....it's a crap shoot. Is this position salary, hourly, 1.0 FTE, how many units, your role and responsibility in hiring, internship, orientation, how big/small is the OR suite, coordinating continuing education, how many staff will fall under your purview, etc...salary range can be all over the board, so it makes no sense in me throwing out a figure. The bottom line for you is to weigh the responsibilities, schedule, and scope of the educator role against the amount they offer and decide if it's worth it for you. Keep in mind, you would be a novice educator so be realistic. And more than likely it's going to be on par with a staff nurse and maybe even a little less. Every now and then I see an educator with comparable salaries to managers...but they usually are experienced with a long history of achievements, and have worked in reputable orgs.

Good luck.

-theRNjedi

tiffcrn, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 27, 2016

Thank you for all the info. The role is overseeing the main or with 20 suites and the OSC that also has 20 suites. Staff wise I will oversee education for around 240. I do need to come up with an outline of what I feel could be improved/ changed. At the moment our orientation process needs some adjustments. It will be a learning curve for me.