Australian Hospital-Based Nurse Educators' Perceptions of Their Role

This article presents the findings from a phenomenological study that explored the understandings of Australian hospital-based nurse educators' experiences of their role. Purposive sampling resulted in 11 nurse educators from four large metropolitan hospitals within an Australian jurisdiction. The participants were asked how they understand their role and translate that understanding into practice. Thematic analysis identified four themes representative of nurse educators' understanding of their role: Becoming an Educator, Capability Building, Panacea, and Tension. A coherent picture emerged from subthemes highlighting that nurse educators were undervalued and value is added. Being undervalued and value adding are translated into nurse educator practice as resilience, being educationally literate, investing, and having a presence. This article identifies a gap in knowledge related to understanding the nurse educator role and informs recruitment and subsequent retention of nurses into nurse educator roles at a time when the nursing workforce in Australia and internationally is about to experience a major shortfall. Findings are specific to the Australian context and are not necessarily generalizable to other hospital jurisdictions. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(6):274-281.