Nurse educators work within the academic systems and hospital training settings to assist in the development of new nurses. They might teach 3-year diploma programs within a hospital setting, a 2-year Associate degree through a college, or a 4-year Bachelor of Science in nursing program through an accredited university. Nurse educators may also teach refresher courses for nurses who have been out of the field for some time and want to return to their nursing careers. This kind of schooling would allow them to retake the NCLEX-RN licensing examination or other certification examinations with confidence. Nurse educators may also be in charge of conducting research, maintaining standards within the clinical nursing setting, and a number of other tasks related to nursing and academics.

Nursing educators work to educate other nurses entering or reentering the field, but they also perform a variety of other tasks such as maintaining the clinical standards in a medical institution, writing grant proposals, performing research for laboratories, and evaluating learning curriculum for other nurse educators. In a classroom setting nurse educators must also help nursing students to identify problem areas and surpass expectations within the course, and design and implement a learning plan for in and out of the classroom.

Nurse educators can work in a variety of settings including local hospitals and private practices, training other nurses. They may also work in public and community settings, teaching school-aged children about the specifics of nursing, in community colleges, universities, and as a tutor through online learning programs. Some of their most frequent job titles include:

• Clinical Educator
• Nurse Educator 
• Occupational Health Nurse Instructor
• Patient Care Coordinator and Educator
• Diabetes Consultant

Program Curriculum