(NAPSI)\u2014They save, prolong and improve lives and help others learn to do so as well, but all too often nurses and nurse educators have been taken for granted, overworked and overlooked. Now, however, they\u2019re being honored throughout May, National Nurse\u2019s Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Nurse Practitioners Do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are just a few of the tasks these nurses take on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Take a patient\u2019s medical history, perform exams, and order tests<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Manage the diagnosis and treatment of disease<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Write prescriptions and provide physician referrals<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Conduct certain medical tasks and procedures<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, according to the health policy journal Health Affair, a million current registered nurses are projected to retire by 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The good news is, nurse educators can make the difference. They provide their students with the necessary knowledge and advanced skills to succeed in the front lines of healthcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What Nurse Educators Do<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Identify and establish a personal teaching philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Use data and analytics to design curricula, see what\u2019s working and what isn\u2019t, and discover ways to improve students\u2019 academic experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022Form early and strong relationships with colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nurse educators must also possess and master soft skills such as communication, collaboration, partnership, management, leadership, and advocacy to mold capable and astute nurses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They help their students address the health issues of diverse patient populations such as individuals from foreign countries who do not speak English and need an interpreter, low-income persons who can\u2019t afford necessary procedures, and people in rural communities without access to high-quality care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nurses And Educators Can Get Help<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where the National League for Nursing can come in. It provides teaching resources to nurse educators and nurse practitioners working in different fields and various patient populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers professional development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its nearly 45,000 individual and 1,100 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and healthcare organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know that one of the major obstacles to reversing the shortage of nurses is a lack of nurse educators and spots available for qualified applicants to nursing programs. There can be no better response to the critical shortage of nurses than to encourage more nurses to earn the requisite advanced degree to enter nursing education, and for master\u2019s and doctoral-prepared nurses to join the ranks of National League for Nursing Certified Nurse Educators, the badge of expertise in this specialty area of practice,\u201d said National League for Nursing President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One way the National League for Nursing works is by offering certification credentials to professional nurses and nurse educators in three distinct categories: one for academic nurse educators, one for academic clinical nurse educators, and one for novice nurse educators with fewer than three years\u2019 experience teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn More<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For further information on nurses and nurse education, visit\u00a0www.NLN.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n