Questions to fulltime educators?

[gerinurse10]

I would like to be a nurse educator in an ADN or BSN program. I have been a homecare nurse for 10 years. My present position is Supervisor of Assisted Living. Geriatrics has been my main focus since I graduated. My question to all of you is: Do you need acute care experience to become an instructor? I would love to teach new nursing students the fundamentals, community health and geriatric nursing. Would you suggest I get back in the hospital and get some med/surg. experience even though I have no desire to return to that setting? Of course, if I have to I will. I am also curious about the availability of instructor positions. How hard is it to get a position? What is the basic contract? 10 mos. full time? Are you on campus a full forty hours? I live in Connecticut. Thanks for helping me with my research.

[Tamera]

I started teaching LPN's in January. We lecture & do clinicals as well. It is a very demanding job as far as preparation for class & clinicals & making sure the studens get what they need in both class & clinicals. The pay is much lower in education than in other areas of nursing but the benefits are pretty good. Overall, I think that teaching nursing is a big responsibility to not be taken lightly. You would be more comfortable with the materials & clinicals if you could refresh yourself with medical-surgical experience since changes occur so often. The students deserve updated & current information. We are on a 10 month contract right now with the option of teaching in the summer months. I have worked with RN students in clinicals & I was really glad that I had some recent experience in med-surg so that I could share my knowledge as well as help them understand what they were doing. Maybe some CEUs in a particular area in med-surg would be an option instead of going back to the hospital. Good luck & I hope that you find what you are looking for.