The Nurse Education, Practice and Retention: Career Ladder Grant, funded by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), provides an online career ladder program to help nurses continue their education. Nurse leaders and educators are needed with diverse clinical care and specialty focus who not only are experts with a patient population, but want to share their expertise with current and future nurses. As a nurse with years of clinical experience, perhaps you want to continue your education and advance to clinical leadership and educator roles.
The University of Kansas offers several programs to help current nurses become Clinical Nurse Specialists and Educators. Current nurses can gain a clinical master's degree or a post-master's nurse educator certificate as part of this advanced education and career development program. To make advanced nursing education more accessible to diverse students, the program is offered in an online format. Participants will gain skills for educating patients, staff, and students by combining clinical expertise with a tool kit of teaching strategies. Students have the chance to further education, expertise and credentials from their home communities. An opportunity to be mentored in the advancement of your education is available through faculty at specific community colleges and through the University of Kansas School of Nursing faculty.
If you have years of clinical experience to share (or even if you are just beginning your clinical career), please consider teaching as an option. What you decide to do can have an impact on future generations of nurses and their patients. Think about yourself as a nurse educator. Plan to "pass on" your years of clinical experience to others. Consider enrolling in the Adult-Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist/Clinical Educator track (or other online masters program) at the University of Kansas School of Nursing!
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