Essay Sample on Nurse Educators: Preparing Future Nurses for Rapidly Changing Healthcare

Introduction

Nurse educators are registered professionals with advanced nursing degrees that allows them to teach the curriculum to students and help train future nurses. Nurse educators play an essential role in transforming nursing education to meet the continually changing healthcare settings. Nurse educators prepare future nurses by providing them with comprehensive sets of skills that include critical thinking and decision making, accurate judgement and sound knowledge. Due to the rapid advancement in nursing science and research, it is not only necessary for educators to develop a curriculum for guiding programs, but also a need for the reexamination and modification of the existing ones according to arising needs. A nursing educator role varies in different settings, such as classrooms and clinics. Nurse educators play changing roles in designing curricula founded on broad educational principles, research and theory to allow learners to gain knowledge and skills necessary in providing care.

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Role of Nurse Educator in Curriculum Development

A nurse educator has clinical experiences and specific competencies that promote specialty in different areas of work. The National League of Nursing published eight nursing core competencies as an outline for a scope of practice for academic nurse educators. The nursing competencies according to NLN include; facilitate leaning, facilitate learner development and socialization, nurses should use assessment and evaluation strategies, participate in designing curriculum and the evaluation of program outcomes, act as an agent of change and a leader, quest for continuous quality improvement in their roles as an educator, engage in scholarships and understand that teaching is an activity offered in an intellectual manner and finally function within the educational setting (National League for Nursing, n.d). The active skills of a clinical educator in teaching are vital for the success of the leaners (Hussein & Osuji, 2017). Therefore, there is a need for adaptation of competency-based curricula in nursing that are not only dominated by classwork but also responsive to fast-changing needs

The Role of Nurse Educators in Different Settings

To nurture future nurses well, it is essential for a nurse educator to employ strategies and skills to proficiently facilitate, communicate and instruct learners in different environments such as classrooms, clinical and simulation. In the class, educators adopt new methods of instructional learning such as collaborative and small group learning that helps to encourage thorough discussion and critical thinking (Aliakbari, Parvin, Heidari, & Haghani, 2015).

Additionally, the role of a nurse educator in simulation is to build strong foundational skills and knowledge to students. There exist many technologies that present clinical situations, and through them, the educator notes how students react to the situations over time (Alikbari et al., 2015). Through simulation studies, an educator can provide recommendations on specific areas where there is need for improvement. According to Hughes (2008), simulation as a method of teaching ensures that students get a chance to gain competence and refine skills without fear of harming a live patient. Nurse educators also ensure that students apply the theories and evidence-based practices they have learned in simulation labs and classroom in providing care for real patients in clinical settings (Hughes 2008). In the clinical setting, a nurse educator ensures that learners get a chance to acquire skills to relate professionally with other health care providers.

How Nursing Theories Influence the Role of Nurse Educator

Nurse educators are responsible for training future nurses with essential components of the leading nursing theories so that they can apply appropriate approaches that best fit the care needs of the patients. Lininger's culture care theory is one example of an approach that influences how nurse educators equip students to achieve comprehensive care practice. Lininger's culture care theory also referred to as the theory of transcultural nursing, helps to address the care needs of patient of different cultures in hospitals and health facilities. Nurse educators ensure that students understand that even though practices for culture care are integrally diverse, there exist universal characteristics that repeat within situations and patterns of care.

Humanistic nursing theory is another theory used by nurse educators to improve the student-teacher relationship in class. This theory helps nurse educators equip learners with essential facts that patients recover in healthy and creative ways. Nurses are required first to investigate a case, create a close relationship with patients so that they can understand their clients and reflect on their own experiences and place them in the context of the current situation. Nurse educators teach students on how to use this theory synthesize their knowledge to develop into a source of continually evolving facts.

Additionally, the theory of interpersonal relations is taught to students to help build a strong relationship that is founded on mutual respect. Nurse educators also show students this theory by communicating the four phases, including orientation, identification exploitation and resolution. Nurses must take a role that includes a teacher, surrogate and counsellor, among others.

Curriculum and the Design Process

The nursing curriculum is the entirety of deep-thinking approaches, goals, general design, courses strategies to improve learning, methods of teaching, environment for learning, policies and overall resources. A summary of the core process of curriculum work includes curriculum development, evaluation and implementation (Hughes, 2008). The activities in curriculum development include faculty establishment, ongoing appraisal and scholarship. Teaching curriculum used by nurse educators is context-relevant, evidence-informed and unified (Iwasiw & Goldenberg,2014). Evidence-informed curriculum design includes setting the context in which the curriculum is to be delivered to students practising nursing, students learning, then the nursing practice and finally gathering evidence about clients and their conditions of health. The design for the competency-based curriculum used by nurse educator includes learning and teaching theories and principles of adult learning. Context-relevant curriculum design is responsive to students works is consistent with the mission and goals of the institution of nursing and practicable within the actualities of the community and school(Iwasiw & Goldenberg,2014). A Unified curriculum used by nurse educators involves philosophical theories, professionalism and concepts evident in goals and outcomes. In the unified curriculum, course titles reveal the philosophical approaches (Iwasiw & Goldenberg,2014). A nursing curriculum that is evidence-informed, context-relevant and unified is founded in evidence concerning nursing training, practice, environment, students, community and responsive to the situation where it is offered.

Internal and External Influences on Curriculum Development

Internal factors affecting nursing education include resources within the institution of nursing, students and learning environment (Iwasiw & Goldenberg, 2014). Resources within the institution that affect development and implementation of the curriculum include the absence or availability of teaching materials or tools, finances and teaching environments. Students affect curriculum development through the extent of preparation, motivation, scholarship support available for the learning materials and tools for use such as stethoscopes. Learning environment affects curriculum through factors such as supportive environment, adequate space for practice and serene settings for study. External factors include Financial Funding, rules and regulation and availability of clinical sites (Iwasiw & Goldenberg, 2014). Little funding of the nursing program in schools can affect the curriculum because it limits the class size and the intended program for a semester. The curriculum is heavily influenced by the constantly changing rules and regulations that are mostly affected by global health care issues. Clinical sites include hospital ICUs and operating rooms, among others outside the classroom where students can learn practically. The availability of such sites impacts the success of a nursing curriculum.

Conclusion

In conclusion, nurse educators are not only responsible for teaching nursing students but also designing, executing, assessing and revising programs for education. Educators have to stay up to date on the continually changing nursing trends, methods and establishments. Nurse educators must also possess in-depth knowledge and experience that allows them to apply theories of practice in teaching and also play their roles in different settings.

References

Aliakbari, F., Parvin, N., Heidari, M., & Haghani, F. (2015). Learning theories application in nursing education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 4. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4355834/

Hughes, R. (Ed.). (2008). Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses (Vol. 3). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Hussein, M. H., & Osuji, J. (2017). Bridging the theory-practice dichotomy in nursing: The role of nurse educators. J Nurs Educ Pract, 7(3), 20-5. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b6cf/59707329b3363bd110fe0cb9564b8a38739f.pdf

Iwasiw, C. L., & Goldenberg, D. (2014). Curriculum development in nursing education. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

National League for Nursing. (n.d.). Nurse Educator Core Competency. Retrieved from http://www.nln.org/professional-development-programs/competencies-for-nursing-education/nurse-educator-core-competency