Nursing Educational Coordinators

Nurses are integral to the development of educational and competency programs that support nursing practice in the care of specialized patient populations. Practice areas designate Nursing Educational Coordinators (NECs) to help plan for local needs and to collaborate with their fellow NECs across practice areas, sharing and improving upon educational materials, and standardizing materials where appropriate. Their primary roles as direct caregivers give NECs great insight regarding the best ways to maximize colleagues' educational time investment in meeting the developmental needs of the organization.

Nursing Education Coordinator 2s are centralized educators in Nursing Education Services and in select departments, coordinating broad curricula for specific target audiences, e.g. Acute/Intermediate/Critical Care/Periop/ED Nurses; Patient Care Assistants/Technicians; New Hires. For example, NEC-2s rotate through service as the primary instructors for the centralized New Employee Orientation's clinical segments. Once new nurses arrive in practice areas, their orientation is guided by local NECs, orientation coordinators and preceptors. The NEC group created a core RN Orientation Manual to standardize practice area orientations.  Orientation and competency documentation were also developed and rolled out with significant input from NECs. NECs also work with managers and staff to identify and address ongoing local continuing education needs.