nursing educator advice

Genista, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2004

Hi First year-

I've been a nurse for a few years now (behind the ole med cart) hehehe. I find that the nurse who instructs patients about discharge instructions & care needs is the primary nurse (yes the floor nurse), which is the nurse behind the med cart! :) Lots of patient teaching. I have met ONE NP who did "extra" teaching for a cardiologist on the tele floor, but the BULk of teaching is done by the staff RNs.

The other position is diabetic educator. I do not know the technical requirements for the position. If it were me, I would start with a google search, and then try & arrange an interview with the diabetic educator at the hospital where you do clinicals. Maybe you can job shadow & arrange an interview. We had a diabetic educator come visit & guest lecture when I was student.

Another job not often spoken of, but worth considering- might be wound care & ostomy nurse. This entails wound evaluation, treatment & education to staff and patients. Our wound care nurse recommends treatments.She is more current than most of the primary MDs. The docs often write orders for a wound care nurse to see certain patients for help in addressing wound (or ostomy) care.

Good luck! The road not taken can be an interesting one. :balloons:

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 16, 2004

The types of jobs that you are interested are out there. But as others have told you, they are not numerous -- and they are often sufficiently popular for there to be a lot of competition for them. The jobs fall under a variety of headings and categories. For example, there are diabetes educators, enterostomal therapists, pain specialists, lactation consultants, cardiac rehab specialists, childbirth educators, etc. My hospital hospital has someone who specializes in preparing children and their families to go with a tracheostomies. We have another nurse who coordinates parent education in our NICU ... and on and on.

Most of these positions are considered an advanced-practice role. Some of these positions require a Master's Degree. Some do not. A few would not require a Bachelor's Degree, but many of them do. Some require a special certification (obtained by having relevant nursing experience and passing a test.) Your first step is to graduate and further develop your skills in an area of nursing that particularly interests you. That will take a couple of years. As you are doing that, keep your eyes open. Talk to the people who have jobs that might be of interest to you. Find out about their particular job, what path they took to get there, etc. Go to conferences, meet the speakers, read articles and look at what jobs the authors have, etc. As you get a little more experience in nursing, you will begin to identify which specific field interests you. Then you can start to look into the specific jobs available in that field and the kind of preparation you will need to qualify for them.

Yes ... getting a job like that can be quite "political" -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Employers want (need) to hire people for these positions who can work independently, with minimal direction from a supervisor. Those hired need to have advanced-level knowledge of the speciality and the ability to work independently as a member of a multidisciplinary team -- often seeing patients on multiple units, developing new policies and procedures and educational materials, "getting along" with a wide variety of people, etc. So, yes, these jobs do tend to go to the "star performers" in nursing and not the average nurse or those with a track record of causing problems or conflict.

Good luck,

llg

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 16, 2004

The types of jobs that you are interested are out there. But as others have told you, they are not numerous -- and they are often sufficiently popular for there to be a lot of competition for them. The jobs fall under a variety of headings and categories. For example, there are diabetes educators, enterostomal therapists, pain specialists, lactation consultants, cardiac rehab specialists, childbirth educators, etc. My hospital hospital has someone who specializes in preparing children and their families to go with a tracheostomies. We have another nurse who coordinates parent education in our NICU ... and on and on.
Most of these positions are considered an advanced-practice role. Some of these positions require a Master's Degree. Some do not. A few would not require a Bachelor's Degree, but many of them do. Some require a special certification (obtained by having relevant nursing experience and passing a test.) Your first step is to graduate and further develop your skills in an area of nursing that particularly interests you. That will take a couple of years. As you are doing that, keep your eyes open. Talk to the people who have jobs that might be of interest to you. Find out about their particular job, what path they took to get there, etc. Go to conferences, meet the speakers, read articles and look at what jobs the authors have, etc. As you get a little more experience in nursing, you will begin to identify which specific field interests you. Then you can start to look into the specific jobs available in that field and the kind of preparation you will need to qualify for them.
Yes ... getting a job like that can be quite "political" -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Employers want (need) to hire people for these positions who can work independently, with minimal direction from a supervisor. Those hired need to have advanced-level knowledge of the speciality and the ability to work independently as a member of a multidisciplinary team -- often seeing patients on multiple units, developing new policies and procedures and educational materials, "getting along" with a wide variety of people, etc. So, yes, these jobs do tend to go to the "star performers" in nursing and not the average nurse or those with a track record of causing problems or conflict.
Good luck,
llg

Excellent advice as always, llg. For more information on the requirements for becoming a diabetic educator, check out the diabetic educator post in this forum.

Kokomo · Jul 18, 2004

I am a nurse of 9 years with my BSN. I am thinking about excepting a position as a part time clinical instructor at a community college. I have my BSN. I am a bit nervous about teaching, however I have been looking for a change and this appears to be an exciting opportunity. Any words of encouragement?I have gone PRN and have taken off the past few months. Will return for the first time this week.

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 18, 2004

I say go for it! I am a life-long learner and undertook a challenge similar to yours 2 years ago. I love teaching, and I am learning SO MUCH in preparing my lectures; also I love the variety of all the different clinical sites. I now am working on my Masters. I have grown so much and had so many incredible experiences in the past 2 years--I wouldn't trade it for anything. Sure it's going to be a lot of hard work, and there will be undoubtedly be trying times, but anything worthwhile in life involves putting in the blood, sweat, and tears necessary to make it work.

I like this quote by Goethe: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Jul 19, 2004

VickyRN- I know you do not have your Masters yet. In my world, I never see Educator positions available for anyone other than an MSN prepared nurse. Is this one of those things where you apply anyway? It seems that that everyone is saying there is a shortage, but I hardly see positions posted, much less anything for BSN prepared nurses. Is it who you know??

Kokomo · Jul 20, 2004

Actually, there was a ad in the paper and I called the director of the program and set up a meeting. Since I do have my BSN and a variety of nursing experiences (most recently ICU) she felt that I would be an asset to the program. We also discussed pursueing my masters degree later so that I could progress in my career. As for who you know...not in this case. More like what you have accomplished.