Clinical Nurse Educator, Registry

Join UChicago Medicine, as a Clinical Nurse Educator with the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Neurology, and Pediatric Med/Surg (Comer 5) Departments in Hyde Park.

A Clinical Nurse Educator is a registered nurse (RN) with previous educational experience whose focus is on staff development and nursing education. This nurse is an educator, consultant, role model, staff/patient advocate, change agent, leader and cost effective professional. In collaboration with nursing leadership, the Clinical Nurse Educator designs, develops, implements, and evaluates a variety of educational offerings in order to improve nursing care and clinical/organizational outcomes.  The Clinical Nurse Educator elevates the standard of professional nursing practice at UCM by developing, coaching and mentoring staff to become expert clinicians and leaders.

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago is a state-of-the-art facility, with 20 general PICU beds and 10 beds designated for cardiac intensive care patients. The PICU team directs the care of these critically ill children together with consulting services from across the hospital, including both medical and surgical subspecialties (pediatric surgery, cardiac surgery, trauma surgery, ENT, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery).

Comer's 5th Floor holds thirty-one licensed beds for neurology, neurosurgery, epilepsy, solid organ transplant, and general medical/surgical patients; physical therapy room, epilepsy monitoring room, minor procedures room, play area and conference room.

Essential Job Functions

• Assesses the education needs of employees within area of responsibility.
• Utilizes standardized and develops customized assessment tools and testing methodologies to measure staff knowledge and skill in core nursing practices and within specialty areas.
• Interprets the medical center’s strategic imperatives, policies, guidelines, and other internal demands in order to design education that supports these strategic goals and key objectives.
• Plans and designs a variety of educational activities based on the needs assessment.
• Collaborates with key staff to develop a comprehensive annual educational calendar.
• Designs specialty based orientations for clinical staff.
• Designs inservices and continuing education programs for staff.
• Fosters a cultural environment that promotes learning.
• Evaluates all learning activities using objective performance criteria and recommends corresponding changes in education plans.
• Participates and collaborates with nursing leadership in quality, research and scholarly activities and develops grant proposals as appropriate.
• Researches available funding sources and submits funding proposals in order to implement support and expand new or existing programs to meet the educational needs.
• Participates on departmental and hospital committees
• Participates in seminars, workshops, and/or for credit course in area of professional interest and work responsibility.

Required Qualifications

• BSN required
• Current RN Illinois license
• Minimum requirement of three years of clinical practice
• Knowledge and previous application of adult learning principles
• Demonstrated leadership skills evidenced by serving as a charge nurse, preceptor, or episodic teacher
• Demonstrates complex decision-making skills and problem-solving ability

Preferred Qualifications

• Certification as Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) strongly preferred; required to achieve within 18 months if not currently CNE
• Master of Science in Nursing or related education field preferred
• Previous experience in a role as an educator preferred
• Previous experience working within multidisciplinary teams or nursing leadership committees preferred

Position Details

• Job Type/FTE: Registry (0.3 FTE)
• Shift: Day, 10 hour days
• Unit/Department: Pediatrics Care Center
• CBA Code: Non-Union