RN Nurse Educator

Acadia Healthcare; Greenville (NC); On-site; USD 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Acadia Healthcare's ECU Behavioral Health Hospital in Greenville, NC seeks a Nurse Educator/Infection Prevention RN to join our growing team. The role combines clinical education leadership with infection prevention responsibilities, focusing on orientation, competency development, and regulatory compliance.

The position requires RN licensure, advanced nursing education credentials, and experience in inpatient psychiatry or behavioral health.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in nursing, admin, education or related field.
• Bachelor’s degree in nursing is required.
• Minimum RN licensure active and in good standing.
• Experience in clinical education and staff development preferred.
• Certification in nursing professional development preferred.

Responsibilities

• Facilitates orientation and onboarding to promote staff retention.
• Develops and implements education plans and competency assessments.
• Leads didactic content and clinical skills sessions for designated competencies.
• Ensures regulatory compliance and prepares staff for Joint Commission/CMS guidelines.
• Collaborates with leadership to review outcomes data and refine training.
• Serving as infection prevention resource and role model for best practices.
• Supports new ideas and innovative educational design across the facility.
• May provide direct patient care as needed and participate in safety activities.

Skills

Nurse education

Infection prevention

RN experience

Regulatory compliance

Clinical leadership

Education

Master’s in nursing/Healthcare Administration/Education or related

Bachelor’s in nursing

1+ years clinical education/training (preferred)

NPD certification or ASN/CRRN (preferred)

Job description

Overview

ECU Behavioral Health Hospital in Greenville, NC is currently hiring a Nurse Educator/Infection Prevention RN to joing our growing team!

Hours / Shift Available:

Full-time / Day Shift: Monday - Friday 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.

Acadia Healthcare and ECU Health have partnered to establish a state-of-the-art, 144-bed behavioral health hospital in Greenville, NC. This new 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. Newly opened, the hospital—located just under a mile from ECU Health Medical Center—will offer a full range of inpatient and intensive outpatient services.

Acadia Healthcare is a leading provider of behavioral healthcare services across the United States. Acadia operates a growing network of 260 plus behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 11,100 beds in 39 states and Puerto Rico. With more than 23,000 employees serving approximately 75,000 patients daily, Acadia is the largest stand-alone behavioral health company in the U.S.

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.

Responsibilities

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.

Qualifications

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 toprovidingequalemploymentopportunitiestoall applicantsforemploymentregardlessofanindividual’scharacteristicsprotected byapplicable state,federalandlocallaws.