Nurse Educator?

Question

I have been offered a position as a nurse educator at a Long term care nursing home. I have never been one, but I think it will help my career in the long run. Does anyone know what exactly a nurse educator does? Is it stressful?

Answer 1

Here are some links to sites that have some good info on what a nurse educator does:

http://www.nursesource.org/nurse_educator.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_educator

Good luck to you! :-)

Answer 2

If you are a young nurse think hard about working in a long-term care facility. The pay is lower, and hospitals will wipe out all your years of experience because you worked in long-term care. Therefore, pay scale is lower on both counts. You also get out of touch very quickly with what is current in Nursing.
ON THE OTHER HAND--if you don't want to work in hospitals, don't need to make alot of money, love older people, and want to stay in long term care, then they really Really need people like you, who want to improve things by educating the caregivers.
I worked Long-term care for a while as an educator. The nurse's aides used to ask me--but how can you do these things that way when you have 50 patients to care for? All I could say is, do your best. It is an impossible job, not only for them but for anyone in long-term care ...I hope it will change as the baby boomers get older, but my hope is thin. No one cares about old people, or such conditions would not exist. It's not that people don't try, it's that there just isn't the money to do what is needed.
I hope you will make a difference in Nursing. It badly needs it. And I hope you never "burn out." Remember, to burn out, you first must be on fire.