Nurse Educator and Leadership

¶ … competencies of the direct care provider and the indirect care provider are similar in many ways because both are based on the idea that quality care is the ultimate goal for any stakeholder in healthcare. The competencies are also different in some ways because direct and indirect care providers must focus on roles that are oriented towards using different skills from one another.

This paper will compare and contrast the core competencies of the role of a nurse educator with those of a nurse practitioner to show how they are the same and different in a variety of ways. The core competencies of the nurse educator are based on the idea that the instructor needs to be a leader for students.

The National League for Nursing (2017) identifies 8 core competencies for the nurse educator -- and every one of them has something to do with leadership at root -- whether the nurse educator is facilitating the learner in socialization or helping to establish a positive educational environment: at every step the nurse educator is at the fore, leading the way so that the learner can follow in the right footsteps to become a professional nurse.

This compares positively with the core competences of the NP, which are identified by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner (2014). There are in fact 7 core competencies of the NP that are related explicitly to leadership are consist of the following: 1. Assumes complex and advanced leadership roles to initiate and guide change. 2. Provides leadership to foster collaboration with multiple stakeholders (patients, community, health care providers) to improve health. 3. Demonstrates leadership that uses critical and reflective thinking. 4. Advocates for improved access, quality and cost effective health care 5.

Advances practice through the development and implementation of innovations incorporating principles of change 6. Communicates practice knowledge effectively, both orally and in writing. 7. Participates in professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice nursing and/or health outcomes of a population focus. As can be seen, communication is critical for an NP in terms of what the core competencies are: the NP must be able to communicate practice and engage with other professionals; the NP must be able to advocate and foster collaboration.

The ability to communicate and speak effectively is a crucial skill that the NP must therefore possess. This is also true for the nurse educator who must be able to lead by being a positive and effective communicator. The first competency for the nurse educator is to facilitate learning, and this cannot be achieved without being a good communicator.

The second competency for the nurse educator is to facilitate learner development and socialization -- which means that the instructor must help the learner to communicate well with others -- i.e., the height of communication and leadership in one competency. The NP also has quality competencies and practice inquiry competencies along with scientific foundation competencies, technology and information literacy competencies, policy competencies, health delivery system competencies, ethics competencies, and independent practice competencies.

The nurse educator competencies are less extensive and mainly focus on the role of the educator among the learners. The NP must develop competencies for a range of roles, such as use of technology, use of practice inquiry, the development of scientific information, ethics, etc. The NP has much to focus on because the role of the NP is one in which there is direct interaction with patients and other health care providers -- so that is a lot to be accountable for.

The nurse educator, on the other hand, is indirectly responsible for the quality care that will ultimately be delivered to the patients. The nurse educator therefore will have to focus on how the future nurses develop the competencies they need. The nurse educator is responsible for assessing and evaluating the progress of students -- which is another core competency -- and designing curricula and program outcomes -- the fourth core competency of the nurse educator.

The biggest difference between the core competencies of a nurse educator and an NP is the manner of oversight that each is expected to have. A nurse educator is expected to have oversight of the classroom and the educative process from beginning to end -- from development of the course and learning outcomes to the final outputs of the learner and the total development of the nursing student into the nurse professional.

An NP is expected to have total mastery of the nurse environment -- the monitors, the data, the team work, the patient care, the diagnoses, the implementation.