Looking for a stable career where you can make a huge impact in the lives of others? Want to make real changes in the healthcare industry? You may be interested in becoming a nurse educator.
Related: Nursing Leadership Course Bundle
What is a nurse educator?
The average nurse educator working full-time for a college or university earns an average of $91,448 per year. Nursing instructors can also work from home, work part-time as clinical instructors, or work as skills instructors at hospitals and other healthcare organizations.
Nursing schools everywhere are battling severe faculty shortages. This adds to the bedside nursing shortage experienced in hospitals and care facilities since schools cannot accept as many students. Nursing schools turned away approximately 92,000 students in 2021 due to an insufficient number of faculty members. Becoming a nurse educator means making a difference for students, schools, healthcare organizations, and patients.
Many bedside nurses are drawn to education positions because they want a change from the bedside. They need a break from physical labor and challenging working hours while still maintaining their knowledge and skills.
Graduate from a BSN program and obtain your RN license
Even if you have a different degree or have already passed your LPN exam, you will need to get your RN license to become a nurse educator. In addition, all schools require instructors to graduate from an accredited Bachelor’ Degree Program.
If you have already completed an ADN program, you may be able to apply to an accelerated program and earn your BSN in as little as 9 months.
Get experience as a registered nurse
Becoming a nursing instructor without at least two years of bedside nursing experience is almost impossible. Bedside nursing solidifies a nurse’s school lessons. It also gives instructors real-life examples to pull from. Practical experience gives them time to master the intangible skills needed to become a successful healthcare worker.
Many nurse educators are highly specialized and teach courses that are related to their areas of experience. For example, medical-surgical nurses make great instructors for skills courses. Critical care nurses teach advanced physiology. Teaching specialty topics like pediatrics or labor and delivery requires advanced knowledge and experience in these areas.
Apply for a Master’s degree program
After getting some hands-on experience, you’ll need to apply for and complete a Masters’ Degree Program. An MSN program can take anywhere from 12-18 months of full-time study. Many MSN programs can be completed online.
Courses for a nurse educator program might include:
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Leadership, Policy and Patient Advocacy
- Systems, Safety and Quality Improvement
- Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
- Analytic Foundations for Practice,
- Ethics and the Professional Role of the Nurse
- Nursing Education
Get certified as a nurse educator
In addition to completing their Masters’ Degree, many nursing educators choose to earn a post-master’s certificate in nursing education. Accredited colleges and universities grant these certificates, which prepare nurse educators to teach in schools, hospitals, healthcare agencies, and community centers.
Upon completion of a training program, candidates can take the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) examination. The CNE exam contains 150 multiple choice questions. 130 are scored. The goal of the exam is to test whether the candidate understands how to:
- Facilitate learning
- Facilitate learner development and socialization
- Use assessment and evaluation strategies
- Participate in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes
- Function as a change agent and leader
- Pursue continuous quality improvement in the academic nurse educator role
- Engage in scholarship
- Function within the organizational environment and the academic community
Nurses must renew their CNE certificate every five years. Renewal due during 2026 and beyond requires 75 renewal credits during the five years. Renewal credits are earned by demonstrating that the educator has continued to expand their knowledge of current nursing practices and updates in evidence-based practice.
Go for your doctorate degree in nursing education
The final and most advanced step on the nursing educator track is to earn a Doctorate Degree of Nursing Education. Earning a post-master’s doctoral degree typically takes 5 to 8 semesters of full-time study.
DNP program curriculum typically includes the following courses:
- Curriculum Design
- Personal and Professional Growth
- Assessment and Evaluation of Teachers and Students
- Publication and Grant Writing
- Evidence-Based Teaching
- Wellness in Nursing
- Quality Improvement
- Principles of Instructional Design
- Capstone Project, Presentation, and Defense
Most DNP programs use a combination of online and in-person learning.
