Before we start, what is a nurse educator? According to WHO “ a competent nurse educator should have the knowledge skills and attitudes to adopt new approaches to planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating nursing education."

Here's a little bit about me... I was born in India but raised in the United States. I have always dreamed of becoming a nurse. My stupidity caused me to miss out on continuing my nursing degree when I got accepted to nursing school in the US back in the day. So I decided to return to India to complete my B.Sc. in Nursing. In terms of clinicals, I got to experience both worlds. In the US, I did my first clinical in a nursing home. My instructor was an elderly lady who was a nun. In addition to being polite, she was very pleasant. She explained to us the nursing process, but I don't remember her showing any nursing skills (example giving an injection, or administering bolus GT feeds). During that semester, I was told that I could not continue the nursing program until I improved my grade point average. That's when I decided to go to India. Please don't get me wrong. I don't regret going to India. The clinics there were very different from what I experienced in America. There were only four hours of clinic time offered every week in the American system from 8 am to 12 noon. However, in India, clinic rounds start at 7 a.m. until 1 pm Monday through Thursday. Our clinical instructors were very strict, and expected us to do each of our clinical skills. If you had asked me what I thought of my teachers at that time, I would have said that they were very rude and very mean. However, looking back, I feel that all of my instructors were extremely knowledgeable and had a professional attitude. A wise person told me “you learn the best from the ones who are the meanest and rudest to you.” The same nurse educator will also do clinical teaching.

When I returned to USA I was able to work as a licensed practical nurse before getting my Registered Nursing license. During this time I had developed many nursing skills over the years. Once I became a registered nurse, I was able to continue my nursing skills and at the same time became a preceptor for new hire nurses. I enjoyed teaching the new nurses about different skills and teaching the ropes. In my hospital, we do have nursing students coming to do our clinicals. The clinical instructors are very knowledgeable But I feel the students are not getting exposed to the clinicals as I have. I enjoy teaching the students (of course with the permission of the clinical instructor) about different nursing skills, for example how to give medication via Peg, or how to do intermittent catheterization. Because of my experience with nursing students, I decided to pursue my masters in nursing education. I would love to do clinical teaching especially since I can share my nursing skills with brand new nurses.

pur-new-sol

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