New RN staff educator in need of helpful ideas

[butterfly135]

I recently obtained my first nursing education job in the hospital setting. This is my dream job and I really want to be successful. I have experience teaching students which I loved. I feel very fortunate to of obtained this position and want to do the best I can. My issue is this unit has not had an educator for a very long time, over 6 months. The director and manager pitched it as it will be alot of work but you can make it your own. I am excited and feel up to the task at hand but, am looking for suggestions or pearls of wisdom from those in this type of position. Also, I am set to do a meet and greet with the staff at the end of the week alone. Would anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed with this? I was thinking just go out on the unit and talk with staff and see what they are wanting in their educator to hopefully meet everyone expectations. Thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to provide.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

A lot of your job as an educator is to ensure regulatory compliance. Meeting everyone's expectations is all well and good, but now 9 months into my first staff professional development position, I am learning this is one of the most difficult moving targets ever. People want education but they don't want to come in on days off and they don't want to be mandated to do it and they don't want to have to sit. or stand. or interact. or take tests. etc etc etc. It has been one of the biggest eye openers for me in coming into this, all bushy tailed and idealistic from my fresh new MSN in education....lol! Most people are great, but just know there are always a couple.

I am learning the value of the nursing process even in education. The first step is, of course, to do an assessment. What the staff feels they want or need is part of that, but your biggest guidance is going to come from leadership. What metrics are being missed? Where are their biggest compliance challenges? How did the last TJC survey go and what areas for improvement have been identified? What patient care concerns are there? What initiatives are getting ready to roll out, either for your department or hospital-wide? Who can serve as a mentor for you?

Congratulations on the new job and best of luck!