A Day in the Life of a Clinical Nurse Instructor or Nurse Educator
Do you have a passion for precepting new nurses or love teaching clinical skills? If so, you may want to consider becoming a clinical nurse instructor. A clinical nurse instructor teaches clinical skills to students that are necessary for nursing practice. They usually work for a university as adjunct faculty and take students to their clinical rotations (also known as clinicals). Clinicals coincide with the didactic material that students are learning in the classroom.
Clinical nurse instructors coordinate with the didactic nursing instructors. The didactic course instructor provides the clinical nurse instructor with a syllabus, learning objectives, and grading guidelines for the specific course. These are necessary as the nursing students are graded on their performance in clinicals.
Clinical Nurse Instructor Specialties
When nursing students think of clinical instructors, they often think of clinicals in the hospital. However, clinical nurse instructors can work in a variety of settings and specialties, just like in the nursing field.
Examples of clinical instructor specialties include:
Intensive or critical care (ICU)
Medical and surgical (Med-Surg)
Obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN)
Mental health
Community health
Simulation labs
Skills competencies
There are many more specialties that you can teach as a clinical instructor. You aren’t limited to one area of expertise and can teach many specialties depending on your nursing experience.
Duties as a Clinical Instructor
Clinical instructors teach nursing students the clinical skills necessary to become a nurse. Clinical skills are not limited to hard skills, such as inserting an indwelling catheter or starting an intravenous (IV) catheter. Skills also encompass communication, interpersonal skills, and bedside manner.
Depending on the area of expertise, clinical instructors teach their students a diverse skill set. These skills include:
How to prioritize
Organizational skills
Problem-solving
Critical thinking
Communication
Resourcefulness
Leadership and team attitudes
Time management
Flexibility
Daily Assignments
What does a typical day look like as a clinical nurse instructor? Clinicals are usually one day a week and span for six to ten weeks. The clinical or setting you are assigned depends on the nursing course. If the course is mental health, then the clinical portion will be in a mental health setting. Or if the course is complex health, the clinical can be in an ICU.
Clinical instructors bring a small group of nursing students to a unit or facility and organize an environment best for teaching. They will coordinate with the unit supervisor before the first day of clinical to establish a plan for teaching clinical skills. They coordinate based on unit and nurses’ needs, settings, and patient census. Clinical instructors need to be flexible, as unit needs can change each day. Depending on the day, this can mean assigning a student to an individual nurse or coordinating as a student group to help the unit.
Clinical instructors have a list of competencies provided by the course instructor that their students need to learn. A clinical instructor finds opportunities for each student to perform these skills, even if it means pulling them aside individually from another patient assignment. A successful clinical instructor gives every student an equal opportunity to learn.
Towards the end of the clinical day, the clinical instructor and their students will have a group meeting. The group meeting is a debriefing of the day, discussing professional failures and successes. It’s also meant to answer questions and relate didactic skills to clinical practice.
After each clinical, nursing students are often required to complete a nursing plan of care for a patient or journal to reflect on the day’s activities. Clinical instructors grade these and give feedback to their students. These assignments are factored into their final grade for the course.
After the clinical hours are complete, a clinical nurse instructor will provide final feedback to the nursing student and review areas of achievement and needed improvement. This guides the student nurse on what areas to focus on for future practice.
As clinical nurse instructors typically work for a university as adjunct faculty, they work on a contractual basis each semester. Depending on the needs of the university, clinical instructors can sometimes transition to part-time or full-time.
If you enjoy teaching, being a clinical nurse instructor is a rewarding career path. As most clinical nurse instructors start as adjunct faculty, it’s a great way to try it first for a semester before fully committing. It’s also a great way to earn extra income in addition to your regular job. EARN recruiters can help you find your career path and reach your goals. Schedule a 15-minute evaluation today with your nursing peers.
Written by Amanda Marten FNP-C, MSN
Amanda Marten FNP-C, MSN has been a certified nurse practitioner for over three years. With eight years of nursing experience, she has worked in various specialties including urgent care, travel nursing, post-surgical, and intensive care.
