21st Century Nursing Education: Role of Nurse Educator

A competent health workforce is central to achieving universal health coverage. Quality education is the foundation for developing competent health workers who are equipped with the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to deliver quality care. Improving and maintaining the qualities and competencies of nurse educators requires keeping pace with shifting health-care expectations, evolving practice requirements, new information technologies, and rapidly expanding evidence-based health services (WHO, 2016). A nurse educator is a registered nurse with advanced training that educates and trains future nurses. They have various roles and responsibilities in the education system as a nurse educator. These educational professionals act as both advisers and role models for the students, assisting them in their journeys toward becoming successful licensed registered nurses with the use of various advanced technologies in teaching and learning to meet the goals.

Role of Nursing Educator:

Nurses not only need to have practical skill, but they need to possess the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitude to move the profession into the 21st century whereby nurse educators play an significant role in making student nurses to best future nurses. Nurse educators play a pivotal role in strengthening the nursing workforce, serving as role models and providing the leadership needed to implement evidence-based practice (Gillespie & McFetridge, 2006).  According to Olsson and Gullberg (1988) they work as researchers to critically evaluate new research and help students become more effective decision-makers and problem solvers. These professionals, who work in the classroom and the practice setting, are responsible for preparing and mentoring current and future generations of nurses. They are responsible for designing, implementing, evaluating and revising academic and continuing education programs for nurses (Lander, 2008). These include formal academic programs that lead to a degree or certificate, or more informal continuing education programs designed to meet individual learning needs. Nurse educators are critical players in assuring quality educational experiences that prepare the nursing workforce for a diverse, ever-changing health care environment. They are the leaders who document the outcomes of educational programs and guide students through the learning process. Nurse educators combine their clinical abilities with responsibilities related to; designing curricula, developing courses/programs of study, teaching and guiding learners, evaluating learning and documenting the outcomes of the educational process (Barton, 2017). According to Crew (2016) many nurse educators have a hybrid role that combines nursing practice and teaching, whether through a university, hospital, or other healthcare settings, nurse educators in this hybrid role continue to provide patient care while teaching less experienced nurses or nursing students who are doing fieldwork.

Challenges faced by nurse educators:

Nurses face a number of challenges in the 21st century. One major challenge pertains to nursing education, specifically to the entry into practice preparation of undergraduate nursing students. Nursing educational programs in the past prepared nurses to practice for the day, but did not plan for their practice in the future. The patient population is aging and becoming increasingly complex, as a result, competencies necessary for today’s health care environment go beyond hands-on practical skill (Mannino & Cotter, 2016). Therefore, to respond to these increasing demands, it is suggested that the future nurses be educated in ways that better prepare them to meet the complex needs of the population which is a great challenge to the nursing educators (Mannino & Cotter, 2016). Other challenges faced include; aligning education with the practice environment, curriculum enhancement and technological challenges for nursing education. Thus, to keep pace with the rapidly changing healthcare environment, nurse educators must continuously evaluate and revise education curricula, approaches, and programs used to educate new and practicing nurses. Educators need to incorporate evidence-based teaching practices more effectively and teach nursing students the skills that will be required in the 21st century’s healthcare environment (Morelock, 2009). In cooperating advanced ways of teaching-learning process with the use of advanced technologies and offering blended or online courses to meet the education demands. Meeting the learning goals and objectives for lessons to different natures of learners is challenging. 

Overcoming challenges:

Understanding of instructional contexts and design models, learning objectives and lesson plans help to overcome such challenges for nurse educators. Through instructional context, the nurse educators will be able to help the learners in achieving their goals with appropriate curriculum and meeting the students’ learning needs. Nurse educators will be able to apply evidence based practice in teaching and learning. They will able to formulate effective learning strategies to meet the learning goals and objectives of every session they teach with the use of advanced technologies. It will help educators as a guide in revising and evaluating curriculum. Using/ understanding design models; the systematic and reflective process of translating principles of learning and instruction into plans for instructional materials, activities, information resources, and evaluation (Krouse, 2015). Instructional design involves the identification of an educational problem, the proposed outcomes, and the design of the processes by which the outcomes can be achieved.  It will help educators to help students in acquiring information, ideas, skills, values and the way of thinking to meet the different nature of learners needs (Krouse, 2015). 

To sum up, nurse educators play a pivotal role in strengthening the nursing workforce, serving as role models and providing the leadership needed to implement evidence-based practice. Nurse educators are responsible for designing, implementing, evaluating and revising academic and continuing education programs for nurses. These professionals, who work in the classroom and the practice setting, are responsible for preparing and mentoring current and future generations of nurses. With various challenges faced by nurse educators in 21^st century, knowing and understanding of instructional contexts and design models, learning objectives and lesson plans help to overcome these challenges to meet the students learning needs.

Nursing education before compared to nursing education in 21st century.

Nursing education before

Nursing education in 21st century

Watch the video: A Look at the work of a Nurse Educator:

REFERENCES

Barton, J. (2017). Role of the RN in primary care: Implications for nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 56 (3), 127-128. Retrieved from https://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/jne/2017-3-56-3/%7Bfc161b7f-dfb6-44b1-8f7a-c26e2bb3b581%7D/role-of-the-rn-in-primary-care-implications-for-nursing-education

Crew, L. (2016). Clinical simulation in nursing education: Exploiting a home court advantage. Caribbean Journal of Nursing, 3 (1), 24-35. Retrieved from http://ojs.mona.uwi.edu/index.php/cjn/article/view/

Gillespie, M &, McFetridge, B. (2006). Nurse education – the role of the nurse teacher. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15 (5). Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01344.x

Lander, M. (2008). The theory–practice gap in nursing: the role of the nurse teacher. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32 (6). Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01605.x\

Mannino, J & Cotter, E. (2016). Educating nursing students for practice in the 21st Century. International Archives of Nursing and Health Care, 2 (1). Retrieved from https://clinmedjournals.org/articles/ianhc/international-archives-of-nursing-and-health-care-ianhc-2-026.pdf

Krouse, A. (2015). Instructional Design: More Important Than Ever. Journal of Nursing Education, 54(6), 304-305. Retrieved https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20150515-10

Olsson, H & Gullberg, M. (1988). Nursing education and importance of professional status in the nurse role. Expectations and knowledge of the nurse role. International Journal Study. PubMed. 25 (4), 287-293. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed.3243687/

World Health Organization, (2016). Nurse Educator core competencies. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/hrh/nursing_midwifery/nurse_educator050416.pdf