Nurse Educator

The Nurse Educator plays a critical role in ensuring that behavioral health staff are well-equipped to provide safe, high-quality patient care. This hands-on position is responsible for developing and implementing education plans, identifying learning needs, and leading new hire orientation from a clinical perspective.

The Nurse Educator facilitates ongoing training programs, ensures compliance with regulatory guidelines, and fosters a culture of continuous learning.

By modeling best practices and engaging staff in evidence-based education, this role directly contributes to enhancing professional competency and patient safety within the facility.

Acadia Healthcare and Geisinger Health have partnered to establish a state-of-the-art, 96-bed behavioral health hospital in Danville, PA. Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Danville will serve pediatric and adult patients, offering inpatient treatment, intensive outpatient programming, and ECT services. It will also serve as a teaching hospital for students and residents of Geisinger’s College of Health Sciences.

This facility will help meet the urgent need for accessible, high-quality psychiatric care in the region, expanding capacity to support patients with diverse mental health needs.

Essential Functions

• Facilitates orientation/onboarding program to promote employee retention.
• Conducts orientation in a manner that fosters a positive learning environment.
• Role models organizational and personal commitment to new employee success.
• Participates in designing and identifying educational activities to address practice gaps for identified target audiences, which may include licensed and non-licensed healthcare personnel.
• Identifies learning needs of staff and/or facility
• Role models competent practice through demonstration or simulation activities

Assess Practice gaps/Crosswalk Competencies to Practice

• Collaborates with Corporate Nursing Director /Educator to review outcomes data to evaluate and refine competency management activities
• Assist with development and/or instruction of didactic content and clinical skills for designated competencies
• Develops education plan according to gap assessment or quality data/safety outcomes
• Aligns educational programs with facility and/or organization policies and procedures
• Implement and deliver educational curricula as required by regulatory agencies such as Joint Commission, CARF, CMS and State agencies.
• Creates engaging, evidence-based educational content to meet the specific needs of the intended audience
• Demonstrates exceptional instructional skills while maintaining learner engagement
• Act a general resource for nursing staff.

Collaborate with medical practitioners and CNO/DON to incorporate nursing processes into the plan of care for patients.

Provide educational leadership to patients and care providers to enhance specialized patient care within established clinical protocol.

Promotes safe, quality, and compassionate patient care

Assist patient and caregivers with education needs, problem solution and health management across the continuum of care.

Educate direct patient care staff in the use of equipment, supplies, and coordinates in-service training for appropriate staff.

• Supports new ideas and innovation in educational design
• Provides staff with resources and “just-in-time” education to implement immediate changes
• May serve in the role of infection preventionist for the facility with training.
• May provide direct care as needed.

Other Functions

• Provides expertise in identifying professional development needs of individual staff
• Assists staff to identify areas for individual growth in current role
• Identifies and provides opportunities for skill enhancement and mastery
• Utilizes novice to expert continuum when developing staff
• Promotes certification in areas of nursing specialty
• Perform other functions and tasks as assigned.

Education/Experience/Skill Requirements

Master’s degree in nursing, Healthcare Administration, Education or other clinical field or equivalent combination of education and/or experience preferred.

Bachelor’s degree in nursing or commensurate experience required

Five + Years Strongly Preferred

• Three years of registered nurse experience required.
• Inpatient psychiatry experience as an RN strongly preferred
• Two years of behavioral health experience as an RN required.
• 1+ years experience in Clinical Education/Training and Development (Preferred)

Certification as an NPD Practitioner and/or clinical certification as recognized by American Nurse Credentialing Center. (Preferred)

Licenses/Designations/Certifications

• Current state license is required for this position.
• CPR and de-escalation/restraint certification required (training available upon hire and offered by facility).
• First aid may be required based on state or facility.

Additional Regulatory Requirements

While this job description is intended to be an accurate reflection of the requirements of the job, management reserves the right to add or remove duties from particular jobs when circumstances (e. g. emergencies, changes in workload, rush jobs or technological developments) dictate.

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment regardless of an individual’s characteristics protected by applicable state, federal and local laws.

AHRN