Development & Evolution of the Role of Nurse Educator

The development and evolution of the role of nurse educator has changed significantly since the first reported nursing research in 1906. As of 2010, nurse educators are responsible for designing, implementing and reviewing nurse education programs in universities, teaching hospitals and health care facilities.

Early Nurse Educators

• The earliest accounts of nurse educators were in England in 1860 at the Florence Nightingale School for nursing. In 1873, three hospital schools which followed Nightingale's key principles, opened in America but they failed to provide nurses with the skills to improve medical treatment and provide more humane treatment to patients.

Post-World War I

• In 1926, the Committee on Nursing Education was founded, which later became the Committee on the Grading of Nursing schools. The committee was established to make the necessary changes in nurse education to improve the care of terminally, acutely and seriously ill patients. The key implications made by this committee were that only individuals with a high degree of education (master's or Ph.D.) could educate new nurses.

Modern Day

• In 2010, most universities in the U.S. now offer undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing. The American Association for Critical Care nurses estimated that, in 2009, 55,000 individuals were not accepted into nursing programs because of the stringency of nursing education standards.