Nurse Educators as Change Agents

This assignment examines the National League for Nursing (NLN) Core Competencies for Nurse Educators, specifically focusing on Competency 5: acting as a change agent and leader. It highlights the importance of leadership skills in preparing nurses for complex and changing healthcare environments. The text discusses five key arenas where nurse educators demonstrate leadership through role modeling, vision development, relational integrity, and challenging the status quo. It emphasizes the role of nurse educators in adapting to evolving healthcare systems and fostering innovation within nursing practice.

Running head: NLN CORE COMPETENCIES FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
NLN CORE COMPETENCIES FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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NLN CORE COMPETENCIES FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
The National League for Nursing (NLN) has produced a number of core competencies
for nurse educators. The nurse educators, who can accomplish the competencies, can
successfully develop future nurses who have huge knowledge on the philosophy of nursing and
ensure best practice for patients. There are eight important competencies. Out of this, one of the
most significant is the competency 5. This competency states that nurse educators should also
function as a change agent and a leader (National League for Nursing, 2012).
Nurse educators should use leadership skills in educating and preparing graduates for
different types of complex as well as ever-changing healthcare changes and environments.
Researchers, after analyzing the different leadership models are of the opinion that nurses
educators should develop leadership skills in five important arenas. This involves role modeling,
helping students to develop knowledge and learn, providing vision, seeking relational integrity
and even challenging the system of status quo.
Role modeling mainly involves the educators to teach students by making them observe
the faculty members while the later are performing interventions. The nursing students will then
perform the interventions by following the ways by which the educators had demonstrated them.
This is called role modeling.
Another important characteristic of such educators is that they develop and share a vision
with the nurses by inspiring them and leading the changes. The nurse educators has the
responsibility to make the nursing student understand what they could become, how patients can
be cared for in better manner, how a clinical environment should be and what would be the
objectives of the semester. Challenging the system to bring out desired changes for better future
is also the duty of the educators (Adelman-Mullally et al., 2013). In the days, when the

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NLN CORE COMPETENCIES FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
healthcare system is undergoing rapid changes that are creating ambiguity and predictability,
nursing educators should realize which of the old procedures are no longer working are. They
should have the confidence as well as courage to propose newer approaches that will be helpful
for the nurses to emerge out as better healthcare professionals.

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NLN CORE COMPETENCIES FOR NURSE EDUCATORS
References:
Adelman-Mullally, T., Mulder, C. K., McCarter-Spalding, D. E., Hagler, D. A., Gaberson, K. B.,
Hanner, M. B., ... & Young, P. K. (2013). The clinical nurse educator as leader. Nurse
education in practice, 13(1), 29-34.
National League for Nursing (2012). The Scope of Practice for Academic Nurse Educators. New
York, NY: National League for Nursing. ISBN: 978-1-934758-17-5