The job description of a nurse educator is a comprehensive and constantly extended list of competencies and responsibilities. It includes delivering knowledge to nursing students, developing teaching materials and, more generally, improving clinical thinking abilities, facilitating a productive learning environment, arranging a smooth transfer from theory to clinical practice, implementing self-directed learning, and facilitating moral development of learners. And even though not on the official list, self-education is considered one of the essential requirements.
Why is it so important for a nurse educator to work on her own skills and knowledge?
There are a few reasons that stem from understanding the role of an educator in general. As any person whose job is to convey knowledge and help develop skills, a nurse educator has to facilitate a smooth transition of information to learners and explain the key qualities and competencies required to master the field.
With fast development of methodology and teaching techniques, an educator that lags behind in implementing them into everyday activities is putting at risk the quality of the education delivered. While it might go unnoticed for some time, long-term consequences will be not only noticeable but grave.
Developing Learning Philosophy
The second approach is associated with one of the major responsibilities imposed on nurse educators – developing a learning philosophy. A philosophy guides the objectives and learning strategies, making the entire education process an integral experience.
Developing such philosophy is a never-ending process, unique to every educator. There is a common foundation created by generations of educators, yet the job of each one of them is to carefully examine and analyze classroom environment and develop a unique philosophy that would fit the needs of their students and, ultimately, patients. To give an example of the components of such philosophy, these can be the lack of constraints in the classroom environment, taking responsibility, examining and practicing skills, etc.
An educator is a manager of classroom learning. She assesses current teaching challenges and devises a number of exercises that will help achieve education goals and overcome challenges. Young educators often experience difficulties in setting the right tone, managing relationships with learners that come from different backgrounds, and facilitating the right kind of classroom exchange, which calls for years of self-education and improvement.
Building A Professional Self-Image
Another area that calls for life-long self-education is building a professional self-image of a nurse educator. As any novice teacher, a novice nurse educator needs to establish authority in the classroom and gain respect or at least recognition of learners.
While an educator can have personal qualities that boost trust and help manage conflict situations, the true recognition comes with time, experience and… self-education.
Last but not least, a fast development of technology leaves no other choice but to keep up with the change. Over the last decade, we have seen significant progress in the development of instruction software for nurses. New applications and technical means that make nursing education more productive and effective appear on a regular basis, and it is the responsibility of a nurse educator to identify such means and implement them in learning.
Therefore, the three areas of self-education for nurse educators are facilitating the most effective transfer of knowledge to learners, establishing learning philosophy that would help such transfer and the development of relevant skills and competencies in learners, building a professional image, and facilitating the use of advanced technology to achieve more productive learning.
As any person whose job is to facilitate learning, a nurse educator has to be among the first to identify and use opportunities for improvement. In the area where stakes are high and a mistake can have grave consequences, not taking an opportunity for improvement can be synonymous to failure. And what is a better way to identify such opportunities than engaging in continuous and systematic self-education?
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