Becoming a nurse educator is a fulfilling path for anyone who wishes to combine a passion for nursing with teaching. But first, you need to learn how to become a nurse educator. While specifics vary by state, you typically need to earn an MSN, gain nursing experience and obtain certification.
If you already have a bachelor’s degree and want to become a nurse, it makes sense to earn a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree. Even outside hospitals and clinics, MSN-educated nurses have opportunities to put their expertise to use. Among many other exciting positions, becoming a nurse educator may stand out to you if you’re interested in educating future nursing leaders and directly addressing the nursing shortage.
An often under-addressed element of the nursing shortage stems from a lack of nurse educators. This shortage in nurse educators has had a ripple effect, making it challenging for nursing schools to hire additional faculty and increase the number of students admitted into their programs.
As a result, qualified nurse educators are in very high demand for the foreseeable future — meaning that becoming a nurse educator is just one more reason to earn your MSN degree on top of bringing more nursing leaders into the profession.
At Marquette University, our Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing can help pave the way for your future nursing career. In as few as five or eight semesters, you can earn your MSN, preparing you to obtain your nursing license and explore the many future career opportunities available to you.
Here we’ll review the role and career prospects of this profession, share how to become a nurse educator, and provide the knowledge you will need to make an informed career decision.
What Does a Nurse Educator Do?
Nurse educators are an essential part of the nursing profession, preparing students in school to transition into a professional nursing setting. They oversee the lab and clinical education of students and lead classroom discussions, engage in online-based discourse, design curricula and provide help and feedback.
Additionally, nurse educators evaluate educational programs to ensure they meet industry standards, supervise students during clinical rotations and assume mentorship roles. They can teach a variety of courses, ranging from general nursing to nursing specialties, such as pediatrics.
Instead of spending their days working by the bedside, nurse educators work in classrooms and will often perform tasks which include:
- Class preparation
- Grading student coursework
- Perform administrative tasks
- Attend faculty meetings
Nurse educators may also divide their time between classrooms and health care facilities. As part of their responsibility to educate nursing students, they must supervise them during clinical rotations, provide feedback and support with patient care.
Nurse educators, like nurses, are lifelong learners. They must remain current as health care continues to evolve and familiarize themselves with the latest technology, regulations and best practices, in addition to maintaining their certifications. Many nurse educators also participate in health care research to further support and evolve the nursing practice.
The nursing profession must continue to innovate in order to provide the highest quality patient care. Read more to learn how technology in nursing is transforming patient care.
Where Do Nurse Educators Work?
Nurse educators can work in academic environments as nursing professors, or in clinical settings as development officers and clinical supervisors. As educators, they do not need to work the same 12-hour or overnight shifts common in nursing, and may even only work during the nine-month academic calendar.
Academic environments for nursing professors can include nursing schools, community colleges and technical schools. Nursing professors instruct and support students throughout their education, helping them meet the demands and excel in the program.
In contrast, nurse educators in health care settings — commonly referred to as clinical instructors in an academic context — will work with groups of student nurses throughout clinicals. A different pathway for nurse educators in a clinical setting can also be to serve as a unit educator or a professional development specialist. In this role, they deliver continuing education to staff nurses to keep techniques and procedures up to date. However, the goal is still the same: to provide educational resources and learning opportunities to promote skill and career development.
Whichever setting your career takes you, becoming a nurse educator can be a rewarding path. You are tasked with guiding the next and current generation of nurses, instilling in them the skills needed to thrive in their careers and provide quality patient care.
The Steps Toward Becoming a Nurse Educator
To know how to become a nursing professor, you must first research the nurse educator requirements in your state, as specifics will vary. As a general rule, you will need a higher level of educational attainment than the degree path you work with. However, a Master of Science in Nursing degree and at least a few years of work experience are some of the most common requirements to be able to teach the next generation of nurses.
Whether you want to teach now or think you might later, there are things you can do to position yourself for a nurse educator role beyond being passionate about nursing. Below are the four steps you will need to take to become a nurse educator.
1. Earn Your MSN Degree
To work as a nursing educator, you will most likely need to earn a master’s degree. Offered at both Marquette’s Milwaukee campus and the Pleasant Prairie learning site, the Direct Entry MSN program allows second-degree students to leverage their non-nursing bachelor’s degree to earn a Master of Science in Nursing degree in five to eight semesters.
During this full-time program, you will learn from a rigorous curriculum that integrates a blended learning model of online or on-campus nursing theory courses, on-site skills labs and clinical simulation, and clinical courses at top health care facilities in metro-Milwaukee, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Throughout the program, you will be presented with the building blocks needed to become a compassionate and skilled nurse. Nursing theory is first established through your coursework, which you will expand upon and apply during on-site skills labs and clinical simulation.
Skills labs and clinical simulations provide a safe, risk-free environment where you can hone your skills, develop clinical judgment and practice bedside manner. These lessons will help build your confidence as you enter clinical rotations at local health care facilities, providing direct patient care under the supervision of your instructors and the professional nursing staff.
The program is challenging, but worth it for students who are excited and passionate about a career in nursing. With hard work and dedication, you can earn your MSN and obtain a nursing license by passing the licensure exam, allowing you to enter the workplace as a practicing nurse.
2. Gain Experience as a Nurse
Before you can become a nurse educator, you should first gain experience as a practicing nurse across a variety of specialties and care settings. Tobin Tito, a Marquette University clinical nursing professor for the Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, shared his journey toward nursing education.
Having previously graduated from Marquette, he worked as an intensive care unit nurse before being tapped for a supervisory position within his hospital. “I was assigned to teach a lot of newly graduated nurses, serving as their preceptor. My favorite part of my role was teaching the nurses new skills and sharing how to transition into clinical practice.” Eventually he decided to follow his passion and became a nurse educator at Marquette.
“Dive into as many roles as possible before taking this position, because being able to see all of the different perspectives of nursing helps provide that educational aspect,” Tobin advises. “I have a lot of general knowledge in nursing just because of the different positions that I’ve been in, so it helps me relate to different types of nurses and provide that to the students — and the students see that all the time, especially when I teach clinicals.”
3. Enroll in a Nurse Educator Program
After earning an advanced nursing degree and working in the field, if you want to become a nurse educator, you may choose to achieve nurse educator certification. While not required to be employed and practice as a nurse, this certification is recommended as a valuable post-graduate credential.
You can earn this certificate through the Marquette University College of Nursing’s post-graduate teaching certificate program for nurse educators, which focuses on several core skills including how to teach, how to write a curriculum, and how to evaluate student work. This readies graduates and experienced nurse educators to sit for the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE®) exam.
While many nurse educators don’t anticipate this career path, once they experience it, they develop new perspectives and excitement about their role in developing the future nursing workforce. In fact, many tenured nurses who decide to leave the bedside choose to use their wealth of knowledge as nurse educators. Other experienced nurses opt to teach while working as a nurse part-time.
4. Obtain Your Nurse Educator Certification
Passing the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE®) exam is not required but is highly desirable and recommended when becoming a nurse educator. Nurse educators who have earned certification from the National League for Nursing through the CNE exam can increase their earning potential while opening up more career opportunities in the future.
Why Become a Nurse Educator?
Nurse educators are in demand. With a nationwide nursing shortage, the registered nurse profession is projected to grow 6% between 2022 to 2032 with an estimated average of 192,100 job openings projected each year. With such a demand for nurses, more nurse educators are needed to train the workforce.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, postsecondary teachers in the nursing field are anticipated to grow 18% during the same period. Additionally, the median salary in 2023 was $80,780, significantly higher than the national median for all occupations.
There is also significant room for career advancement. As professionals in education, nurse educators can advance their careers within their schools, participate in and lead nursing research projects or assume administrative roles.
While these practical reasons are important to consider, there are many other benefits to a career as a nurse educator. Educators assume leadership roles and can inspire future generations of nurses. Perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of the career is that your efforts have a meaningful impact on students. You can help facilitate their success and watch them flourish into skilled professionals.
Nurse educators play a pivotal role in shaping the future of nursing. The students and RNs you instruct will carry your lessons and insight throughout their careers, and you will be on the front lines of combatting the nursing shortage.
Are you ready to launch a nursing career? Read more to learn how you can make the career change with a Second Degree MSN.
Put Yourself on the Path to Success
Now, prepared with the knowledge of how to become a nurse educator, you can plan your future. If you have a non-nursing bachelor’s degree and are ready to become a nurse educator, Marquette’s Direct Entry MSN program in Pleasant Prairie and Milwaukee can help you on the path to this new career. Contact us today to learn more.