What are the qualities of a nurse educator?

[CraigB-RN, MSN, RN]

In a recent twitter feed, the question was asked what makes a good educator. The topic was geared more to medicine, but I'm going to bring it into my nursing focus.

So what makes a good educator?

PASSION: First and foremost you've got to have passion in what your doing. You've got to believe. If you don't believe in what your doing, no one is going to take you seriously and it's going to be impossible to motivate anyone. Yes there are going to be times when you're just checking boxes off, but those should be only a small part of what your doing.

PERCEPTIVE: You've got to be able to recognize what's going on with your charges. Sometimes it's as simple as recognizing that they may need a little more time. They may need other resources, like time management, or even money management. If $ is interfering with their ability to focus on learning.

FLEXIBLE: It's got to on their time sometimes, not yours. In today world you can't expect everyone to show up at 0700 every time.

KNOWLEDGEABLE: You have to know what you are talking about. Or if you don't. Work with them and both of you learn. If you act like you know what your doing and you don't, You loose credibility.

AVAILABLE: For nurse educators this means you can't live in your office. You have to be out and about. Talking to your charges and finding out their needs.

RESOURCEFUL: Sometimes you have to be creative in finding times, material, etc. Find away to sneak simulation into your program without breaking the budget will endear you to your bosses.

ORGANIZED: All this stuff is useless if you can't find it. Being able to remember that you told someone you'd look something up and then get it back to them goes back to your reputation and effectiveness.

PRIORITIZATION: There are only so many resources available. In time and material. You have to be able to set priorities. What HAS to be done, what NEEDS to be done, what would be Nice to have done, etc.

So what else is needed to be a good No, a GREAT clinical educator?

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I agree most heartily with the flexible part of your post. I'm a night shift person, and we NEVER see an educator. EVERYTHING is on their time schedule, not ours. I've just completed a massive research study looking at exactly this issue.

A nurse educator CANNOT serve only the people who work during the day time.

[amoLucia]

To OP - good points. I particularly like the perceptive entry. I would add to that sometimes an educator may need to defer to another to get some material across if nec.

To meanmaryjean - oh yeah!!!

PS - OP, please use bigger font. I had to squint.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Font fixed.

I was a evening/night educator for a while...LOVED IT!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Agree with all the qualities that OP listed. But there's something missing. Educators need to be 'educated' and competent in the discipline of education. This is a separate and distinct profession -- just being a nurse who is really great at telling/showing others how to 'do stuff' does not make you an educator. .. but I have discovered that nurse educators are frequently oblivious to the theory and practice, including about a century of research, that serves as the basis for effective educational practice.

In my MSN (Education & CNS in Critical Care) - we had only brief encounters with education 'projects'. They didn't even mention Kirkpatrick (guru of educational evaluation levels) and focused entirely on nurse educators. The curriculum didn't even touch on Education Law or the criteria required by FLSA. Since my family is infested with educators (LOL) , I had the advantage of knowing what was out there in educator-land but my fellow students were left with the impression that Benner is/was the end-all and be-all..... sheesh.

I have the opportunity to influence (non-academic) nursing education practice in a variety of settings. I stress Evidence-Based Practice - which is overwhelmingly based on 'outside' (non-nursing) research. We also push for formal education/preparation and ANPD certification. Enthusiasm and Good intentions are 'necessary but not sufficient' in today's healthcare environment.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Good thread.

My first thought was along the lines of HouTx's post above. A great educator is knowledgable about education! My department (nursing professional development) just had a conversation related to that yesterday. A lot of education in my facility is done by people with no education & little expertise is the field of education. Too many people in the health care world mistakenly believe that if you know the content of a topic, then you automatically know how to teach it. We have far too many educators who might be good at taking care of patients ... but who know diddly-squat on how to design, deliver, and evaluate an educational program.

Continuing with that thought ... a great teacher has a thick skin and the ability to "sell" ideas. We work in an environment in which everyone thinks think they "know all about" education because they have been a student -- and/or they have some clinical expertise. Everyone and their uncles will feel free to criticize every attempt you make to teach them something. Remember: real learning involves change -- changing the way the student thinks and/or acts. Many people will resist change. And when they resist, that resistence is often directed at the teacher.

[CraigB-RN, MSN, RN]

That's why I chose to do Ed at same time. I was frustrated with the lack of education content in the MSN program. Another one of my pet peeves is nurses going to NP programs never intending to work as NP and going into clinical education jobs. yes once you've done the MS route it's easier to pick things up. But still.

I have undergrad education degree and knew more about the education concepts than my MSN professors did. One of the failures in nursing education.

[CraigB-RN, MSN, RN]

Salesperson is a good addition to the list. In reality that's probably one of the most important parts of our job. Sell the need to certain education to people.

[suztaylor]

HouTx, I whole-heartedly agree with you. You are so right when you stated, "Educators need to be 'educated' and competent in the discipline of education". Many nurse educators are focused on content expertise rather than teaching/learning expertise and there is a world of difference. I believe it is critical that programs of continuing education by systematically planned and developed applying effective educational techniques and methodologies made for adults. My facility stresses formal education and certification just as you mentioned in your post. The Nursing Professional Development (through ANPD and ANCC) is the perfect match for what we do. Every educator should pursue this certification and keep it current throughout their career. I am in a Doctor of Education (EdD) program with a specialization in Adult Education right now and I am thoroughly enjoying the learning and focus on adult education and theory. It is so incredible to keep on learning and I'm sure the knowledge will translate back into my teaching and learning environment.

Thank you for your post. I was compelled to reply to you because I mirror your thoughts and you focused right in on the important issues regarding what makes an educator an effective one.

[suztaylor]

One more comment I would like to add is that every educator should have a current copy of the ANA's and ANPD's Nursing Professional Development Scope & Standards of Practice. It is an excellent resource and thoroughly outlines 16 standards of what every great educator should be doing. It is a good list to check for areas of improvement in our practice. You can purchase this from the ANPD website.

[NurseGuyBri]

Great thread! I am a regional educator and agree with the majority of your discussion points. I obtained my first degree in social work and then nursing. I find that the social work degree is somewhat more influential in my education as well. I focus on educating staff at multiple facilities as my current career, which can be difficult when creating rapport, a key to getting buy-in. Since I travel many miles by car or plane, sometimes night education is not possible. When in this situation, I always make sure that I educate the in-house staff developer on how to deliver information to the night shift because it is so important that they get first hand information. I do attempt at any time possible to be available on other shifts because let's face it, evening shift is left sometimes and night shift even more so. Although I do not have formal degree in education (which I am pursuing), the ANPD, ANA, and AALTC and having access to multiple EBP research engines has been instrumental in my success so far, so keeping them in mind is important.

[chiandre]

Great post!

For me, to be a great educator, you have to be VERY CREATIVE. You have to find different ways of teaching and engaging your nurses and your students.

As an educator, I have used variety of ways to teach and engage nurses from different backgrounds, education and generational age. Everyday, I seek out new ways to bring evidenced-based knowledge to my nurses and students without boring them. For instance, last semester, I used Google+ to teach ethics. Last week, I used games to teach my nurses about obstetrical emergencies.

To be a great educator, you have to make learning enjoyable and unforgettable.