I agree with your assertion that educators serve those they strive to teach. I
am currently finishing my study of Management in Nursing for my BSN. One of the
contemporary theories of leadership is that of the Servant Leader (R.K.
Greenleaf, 1991.). I found this concept intriguing. As nurses, it is natural
to serve our patients, or at least, it should feel natural. Nursing has always
been about serving, caring, and change, as in healing and growing. It makes
natural sense to consider this in education.

Lisala

--- In mpoweryournurses@yahoogroups.com, "David Woodruff" <dwoodruff@...> wrote:
>
> Great educators know one thing. The purpose in life is not to win.
> The purpose in life is to grow and to share. "When you come to look
> back on all that you have done in life, you will get more
> satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people's
> lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated
> them." – Harold Kuschner.
>
> As an educator, you have many responsibilities. Those include making
> sure everybody gets through their competencies, and orientation, and
> developing new continuing education programs. But the greatest
> responsibility we have as educators is to serve. John Maxwell says
> that "servanthood is the missing link in most chain of commands."
> Serving your nurses means more than just putting on another
> educational program. It means being a part of their daily lives so
> that you can learn the basis of their understanding in order to
> develop programs that meet their needs.
>
> You may develop a program that you think would be valuable to nurses
> without truly understanding their point of view and the needs that
> your nurses have. For example, a program on managing an emergency
> situation may be helpful if your nurses have a good foundation and
> understanding of principles such as hemodynamics. If not, the
> program will be just more useless information that they have no way
> of applying.
>
> As educators, we need to get out into the trenches to find out what
> our nurses really need. How solid is the foundation of their
> practice and how can this program be best developed so that they can
> increase their understanding of what can be used at a patient's
> bedside? By envisioning yourself as a servant of those whom you are
> charged to educate, you will get a different perspective on what kind
> of education is most important to them and how best to deliver it.
>
> As was said by Martin Luther King, Jr., "Anyone can be great because
> anybody can serve. You do not have to have a college degree to
> serve. You do not have to make your subject and your verb agree to
> serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by
> love."
>
> Best wishes,
> David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN-BC, CNS, CEN
> President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
> www.Ed4Nurses.com
>