Nurse leaders are responsible for recruiting and firing nurses, organizing professional trainings, and preparing budget. Nurse educators are the ones who combine their professional and academic experience to train future nurses. Both positions are crucial to the nursing organization and operation, thus some people may consider them as advanced practice nurses. Pros of such approach are that nursing organization and education would receive more attention from administration, increasing quality of nurses at various practices, and that nurses would be more paid. Cons include that more resources would be delivered to nursing organization and management rather than on their clinical training that is considered to be more important. Booth et al. (2016) argue that nursing education lacks consensus between clinical and pedagogical expertise. As such, advanced level means more practical training, thus neglecting academic side of nurse education. Additionally, there will be required more resources and funding to accept nurse education and leadership as advanced nurses practices.
I disagree that a nurse leader and a nurse educator should be views as advanced practice nurses. This is because their work mostly consists of organizational aspects of nursing and require soft skills, such as communication and teamwork to deliver their information. In contrast, advanced practice nurses participate in patients’ health intervention rather than the work with other nurses. Moreover, advanced practice nurses require more time and dedication for their responsibilities, while nurse education and leadership can be done along with clinical practice. For example, when a nurse educator may bring nursing students to during their visit to patients. In comparison, mental health nurse (Consensus Model) cannot bring students to their sessions or communication as patients may not like it.
Reference
Booth, T.L., Emerson, C.J., Christi, J., Hackney, M.G., & Souter, S. (2016). Preparation of academic nurse educators. Nurse Education in Practice, 19, 54-57.