Example Career: Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary

Career Description

Demonstrate and teach patient care in classroom and clinical units to nursing students. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

What Job Titles Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary Might Have

• Instructor
• Nursing Instructor
• Nursing Professor
• Professor

What Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary Do

• Supervise students' laboratory and clinical work.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory and clinic work, assignments, and papers.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as pharmacology, mental health nursing, and community health care practices.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
• Demonstrate patient care in clinical units of hospitals.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Assess clinical education needs and patient and client teaching needs using a variety of methods.
• Mentor junior and adjunct faculty members.
• Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment.
• Maintain a clinical practice.
• Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
• Coordinate training programs with area universities, clinics, hospitals, health agencies, or vocational schools.
• Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
• Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
• Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
• Participate in campus and community events.
• Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
• Act as advisers to student organizations.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
• Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.

What Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Good At

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

What Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary Need to Learn

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.