Galen College of Nursing, one of the largest private nursing schools in the United States and solely dedicated to nursing education, announced a new Post-Master’s Nurse Educator Certificate beginning in the January 2022 term.
Galen’s certificate is ACEN accredited and will provide experienced professional nurses, who currently hold a graduate degree in nursing, the opportunity to receive formalized preparation for the role of the nurse educator. Nurses with a desire to teach or lead education initiatives across the healthcare continuum will gain essential knowledge about the full scope of the nurse educator role by completing didactic coursework. In addition, they will gain a valuable mentored experience during the required practicum.
“The new Post-Master’s Nurse Educator Certificate is an excellent option for nurses looking to expand their skillset and credentials, as they aspire to help educate current and future nurses who will influence the quality of patient care,” said Galen College of Nursing’s MSN Program Director and Professor, John D. Lundeen, EdD, RN, CNE, ANEF. “Our certificate is designed to prepare professional nurses for teaching roles in a range of nursing education settings, including the college classroom, staff development departments, and professional development arenas. This certificate helps to fill a gap in the availability of educational programming for the distinctly unique and advanced role of the nurse educator.”
According to AACN’s report on 2019-2020 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 80,407 qualified applications from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2019 due to an insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. Most nursing schools responding to the survey pointed to faculty shortages as a top reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into their programs.**
“As the need for nurses prepared at every level of education continues to grow, we are keenly aware faculty shortages across the country are limiting student capacity. As a response, Galen College of Nursing is thrilled to extend our post-licensure options with this new program for advanced-prepared, professional nurses,” said Galen’s CEO, Mark Vogt. “Nurse educators are an essential part of the future of modern, high-quality patient care and healthcare delivery, and our new Post-Master’s Nurse Educator Certificate is designed to help address the critical demand.”
Courses are offered over 8-week modules with enrollments three times per year in January, May, and September. Galen will accept up to six semester credit hours of transfer credit as outlined in their transfer credit policy. Graduates of the program will additionally meet the eligibility requirements for the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE®) examination. Galen College of Nursing is currently accepting applications for this program for the January 2022 term.
