Question:
Write a professional development letter on nursing education for masters of nursing education?
Answer:
To
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
Date:
In this professional development letter, I would like to highlight the desired nursing education job and the plan to meet the requirements of the job. Attention is given to the two professional development opportunities with nursing education and the reason for interest in them, how these opportunities link to the dream job, explanation of how to plan the positive nursing education and the information on additional requirements.
The desired nursing education job is Registered Nurse (RN) Critical Care Educator. The critical care educator is a significant member of the staff development team in the health care setting. The clinical expertise is considered when the new programs are set up within the alliance of the health care setting. The main focus of the critical care educator is to impart education to the team members of the nursing workforce, who have the aim of delivering high quality patient care for those who are admitted to the critical care unit of the hospital (Herrman, 2008). Achievement of the critical care nurses, after being educated by the critical care educator, is reflected by the better patient outcome. The critical care educator has collaboration with the directors and the other nursing staff for facilitating programs that are very much required within the organisation so that the services and care provided by the health care, especially the critical care unit, is of the best quality. The reason for choosing this area as the nurse educator is that such an educator would oversee the continuing education for critical care and evaluate the nursing staff who are responsible for taking care of patients admitted to the critical care unit (Hunt, 2013). Policies and systems for bringing advancements in critical care unit would be takn care by the critical care nurse educator. The aim of the educator is to facilitate training, undertake evaluation, and remediation. This would involve the development of training guides, manuals, systems and procedures that are in relation to a critical care unit. The purpose of the educator would be to deliver for the coordination and evaluation of clinical nurse education at the critical care unit (Chan, 2013). Such education includes orientation and transitioning for new nurses as well as meeting the educational needs of existing nurses who have the potential to care for patients at the critical care unit (Meyer & Van Niekerk, 2008).
For meeting the requirements of a registered nurse critical care educator, there needs to be atleast five years experience in the critical care unit. This can be achieved by dedication towards nursing practice, hard work and development of skills. In order to become a registered nurse critical care educator, there would be a need of development of interpersonal communication, decision-making ability, empathy, familiarity with information retrieval software and medical software, experience with medical equipment used in the critical care unit. There must also be the capability developed within oneself for working in teams with the senior medical and administrative staff. With continuation of the registered nurse job in the critical care unit, the aim of becoming a registered nurse critical care educator would be achieved (Billings & Halstead, 2013).
There are significant development opportunities for a nurse educator, especially a registered nurse critical care educator. This is because the critical care unit forms an integral and crucial part of any health care setting. Two professional development opportunities with nursing education are Chief Nursing Officer and Nursing Director. There is a special interest in pursuing these in future because the role of a chief nursing officer and nursing director gives immense opportunity to grow professionally as well as personally. Working in a senior position gives an opportunity to come across different situations and environment in the health care setting that makes a positive contribution towards the role of a responsible nurse (Swayne et al., 2012). Nursing director would give the opportunity to oversee all the nursing activities in the health care setting, including nursing education. As a nurse educator, the responsibility that falls on the nurse to direct, plan and evaluate programs for overall care in the setting would ensure that the overall philosophy and goals are fulfilled. Guidance and assistance would be given to the nursing staff in an appropriate manner. All the disciplines of nursing would be taken care of with all particular details on the requirements put forward for bringing advancements in the health care setting. Finalisation and development of financial budget of the organisation would be taken up so that the department can maintain its budget. The communication with the physicians and other healthcare departments would be more appropriate. The main opportunities that would be received by getting the role of nursing director are to implement standards of care that is in relation to patient services, to supervise all nursing staff delivering direct patient care (Bien & Women, 2013). As a chief nursing officer, there exists immense opportunities to direct nursing activities as per the procedures of the health care setting. A contact with the government and facilitating bodies can be established. Direct nursing services an be monitored in an efficient manner and supervision of the nursing managers can be done. A healthy relation with other all the stakeholders in the health care system would be the aim of such a esteemed position (Havens et al., 2014).
The two professional development opportunities have a significant relation with the dream job of a registered nurse critical care educator. Since nurse educators are registered nurses with advanced education and experience, their experience can be utilised in administrative purpose of a chief nursing officer and nursing director. A critical care unit is one of the vital care units of the health care setting. Nurse educators can stay up to date with new nursing methods and recent technologies that would keep them on the leading edge of the adminstarive work taken up as a chief nursing officer or a nursing director. With experience, nurse educator advances to administrative roles. Nurse educators would serve in diverse roles. Role as a registered nurse critical care allows nurses to maintain a good degree of clinical competence while sharing the knowledge with novice nurses. Responsibility of a nurse educator would link to variety of environment that allows to be innovative, visionary and independent. All these skills are required to be at the administrative level, like a chief nursing officer or a nursing director (Foronda et al., 2013).
It is very important to ensure that positive ongoing nursing education is carried out. A planned method of fulfilling this task is needed. Up to date self-education is required for proper nursing education. A frequent travelling is a good method of getting knowledge on continuing education and interaction with other people taking up similar tasks. This assists in mutual development in training in policy. There is a need to analyse the standards of nursing practice so that the gaps are identified in an effective manner. Designing of educational initiatives for improving care is needed. Magaing and coordinating educational activities would be an effective process. Supporting and guiding nurses in learning, implementation of care processes, guidelines and standards is the desirable approach. Evaluation is to be taken up in frequent and regular intervals. Establishing communication with the nurses is very much needed. This enhances the quality of education and there is a easy flow of knowledge between the two sections. Moral support to the nurses is very much needed. Individual attention given to the nurses receiving education is required for imparting education on an overall basis. All these factors would pave the way for positive nursing education (Darbyshire & McKenna, 2013).
The qualifications, additional training, licensure and experience required for taking up a job of a critical care nursing educator are a Nationally Recognized Certification in Critical Care, Registered Nurse License, BLS (Basic Life Support)
ACLS (Advanced cardiac Life Support), atleast five years experience in handling critical care equipment.
It can be stated at the end that the dream job, that is aimed at, is mentioned in tis letter and hard work and dedication will be given to achieve the aim that holds an important place in the life of a nurse, especially a nurse educator.
From
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XXXXX
References
Bien, D. E., & Women, L. D. (2013). Appropriate skill mix in nursing: a change management solution.
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2013). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Chan, Z. C. (2013). A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education. Nurse Education Today, 33(3), 236-240.
Darbyshire, P., & McKenna, L. (2013). Nursing’s crisis of care: What part does nursing education own?. Nurse education today, 33(4), 305-307.
Foronda, C., Liu, S., & Bauman, E. B. (2013). Evaluation of simulation in undergraduate nurse education: An integrative review. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 9(10), e409-e416.
Havens, D. S., Jones, C. B., & Carlson, J. (2014). Chief nursing officer retention & turnover, 2013: is the crisis still brewing. In AONE Annual Meeting.
Herrman, J. (2008). Creative teaching strategies for the nurse educator. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Co.
Hunt, D. (2013). The new nurse educator. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Meyer, S., & Van Niekerk, S. (2008). Nurse educator in practice. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta.
Swayne, L. E., Duncan, W. J., & Ginter, P. M. (2012). Strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
