Academic/Teaching Environment

Hospitals/Health Systems: Nurses constitute the highest volume of healthcare professionals. Due to the large number of nurses, most clinical educators/instructors in hospitals and health systems work in the nursing department (although they may also be found in other departments, such as rehabilitation or respiratory therapy). The job of clinical educators/instructors involves assessing staff educational needs, keeping staff up-to-date in competencies, teaching certification courses (e.g., chemotherapy certification), and teaching new procedures and techniques. They also orient new staff and may be responsible for patient teaching. Generally, at least a Bachelor's degree is required, plus two to five years of clinical experience. Specialty certification in your field of instruction (e.g. OCN or CNO(C) if teaching in oncology) may be required.

Universities/Colleges: University and college faculties hire professors (full, associate, and assistant), lecturers, and clinical instructors. To teach at a college or university, a Master's degree or PhD is required. One may be doing solely didactic (i.e., classroom), solely clinical, or a combination of both types of teaching. In addition to teaching, professors are expected to be involved with research.

We all know what makes a good teacher: strong verbal and written communication skills; knowing their stuff and being able to explain it to us in a way we can understand; not minding answering (endless) questions; being able to inspire us in our work.

Academics are reasonably well-paid, but are not considered to be high earners. And seeing "your kids" walk across the stage to get their diplomas is its own reward.

For more information on academic careers in nursing, see Is an Academic Career for Me?, Are There Enough Nursing Profs?, Are You a Nurse Looking to do a PhD?, and Finding the Perfect Topic For Your PhD. And to read about the research being done by some academics, see Girls at War and Schizophrenia: Catching them Young.

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