Nurse educators play a vital role in the nursing profession and in the preparation of future nurses. As a clinical instructor, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to study in the United States for my Master’s degree in the nursing education field for one year. This one-year intensive study has prepared me to do a better job as a nurse educator when I go back to China. The study has enhanced my basic medical knowledge and equipped me with essential skills and technologies to be a nurse educator, and most importantly, I feel I am ready to teach and prepare my future students for the ever-changing and challenging field of nursing with what I have learned here. I have confidence and faith in myself that I will be a good nurse educator.
For the sake of doing better work when I go back to China, I set up the one, three, and five year goals as a guide to my career development.One Year Professional Goal StatementsGoals1. By August 1, 20l6, I will have presented two newly published journal articles in the critical care field during two journal club meetings by using a clearly defined presentation template for critiquing research articles. So nurses will have learned a standard way to critique articles from my presentations.2. By August 1, 20l6, I will have organized and coordinated two Journal Club meetings in order to get prepared to be a co-chair of the journal club in the year of 2017 by getting familiar with the steps and agendas of the journal club meetings.
Strategies and Time FrameFor the first year after going back to China, I will focus on the work of the journal club. The journal club for nurses has been run for two years in our hospital, but it has not gained enough attention from the nursing administrative leve. .ave achieved and excited about what the future holds. During the process of developing these professional goal statements, I realize now how much I have learned through the one-year study in the United States. The study on various topics, including leadership, health policy, teaching strategies, and communication, has equipped me with many new ideas, interests, skills, and abilities.
By synthesizing the bedside nursing care experience and the knowledge I have gained throughout my course of study, I have developed a more sophisticated understanding of being a nurse educator. I realize now that as a master’s-prepared nurse educator, I have the ability and the obligation to contribute to the growth of the profession, to pursue the continuous quality improvement, to engage in scholarship, to function as a change agent and leader (National League for Nursing, 2012).
