Nurse educator core competencies

The education of health workers, including nurses, is constantly evolving. The appropriate preparation of nurse educators is critical to the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes, of nurses. The education system alone cannot bring about the required changes in the schools of nursing and training colleges. Ministries of health, regulatory bodies, health professionals and communities (as recipients of the education outcomes) must be involved and support the education of nurses. A competent nurse educator should have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to adopt new approaches in planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating nurse education programmes. 

The World Health Organization has developed these Nurse Educator Core Competencies to enable educators to effectively contribute to the attainment of high quality education, and the production of effective, efficient and skilled nurses who are able to respond to the health needs of the populations they serve. This will enable the attainment of objective 1 and two of the Global strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030 and is also a priority in the updated Global strategic directions on nursing and midwifery 2016-2020.

The competencies have been prepared based on the acknowledgment that nursing education and practice are changing. Entrants to the nursing profession must practise, lead and adapt to new evidence, increasingly diverse populations and changing needs. Education is an important starting point for change. The utility of the proposed competencies will determine their ability to bring about the desired changes. Appropriate use of technology can help to expedite such changes. 

Much effort has gone into the preparation of the Nurse Educator Core Competencies. It is the aim of the World Health Organization that they will facilitate nurse educators to attain increased proficiency in assisting student nurses to acquire all the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to practise nursing effectively in the 21st century.