Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Urgent Care Trainer

🎯 Role Definition

The Urgent Care Trainer is a frontline clinical educator and change agent who creates, implements, and measures comprehensive training programs tailored to urgent care operations. This role partners closely with clinical leadership, operations, quality, HR, and Talent Acquisition to onboard new providers and staff, maintain ongoing competencies (clinical skills, triage, point-of-care testing, documentation), deliver simulation and scenario-based learning, support EMR optimization and workflows, and monitor training outcomes to reduce clinical variation and elevate patient safety and service quality.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Registered Nurse (RN) with urgent care, emergency department (ED), or primary care experience
Clinical Lead / Charge Nurse in urgent care or ED
Clinical Educator / Preceptor or skilled Paramedic transitioning to education

Advancement To:

Senior Clinical Educator / Nurse Educator
Regional Clinical Operations Manager
Director of Clinical Education or Director of Clinical Operations
Vice President, Clinical Services or Chief Nursing Officer (for growth into executive roles)

Lateral Moves:

Clinical Quality Improvement Specialist
Operations Manager or Site Manager
Workforce Development Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, develop, and maintain a comprehensive urgent care training curriculum that includes clinical skills (triage, wound care, splinting, suturing basics, point-of-care testing), patient flow, documentation best practices, infection control, and customer service consistent with evidence-based standards and organizational policies.
Deliver engaging instructor-led and virtual training sessions for clinicians and clinical support staff, including new hire orientation, annual competency refreshers, specialty skills workshops, and train-the-trainer programs.
Conduct hands-on clinical skills assessments and competency validations for RNs, medical assistants, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other clinical staff; document competency outcomes and remediation plans in the LMS and employee records.
Develop, update, and operationalize competency checklists, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and clinical quick-reference guides aligned to state regulations, CMS, The Joint Commission, CLIA, and OSHA requirements.
Lead simulation-based education and high-acuity scenario drills (e.g., chest pain, anaphylaxis, sepsis recognition) to improve team response, critical thinking, and escalation pathways; debrief with actionable recommendations.
Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) for urgent care clinical workflows and EMR documentation standards; design and deliver EMR training (e.g., Epic, Cerner, Athena) tailored to urgent care templates, orders, and billing-sensitive documentation.
Onboard new providers and clinical staff through structured orientation plans that include clinical shadowing, supervised patient encounters, documentation audits, and checklist-driven sign-off for independent practice.
Collaborate with Talent Acquisition and People & Culture to build streamlined onboarding workflows, ensure new hire training completion, and reduce time-to-productivity for urgent care clinicians.
Monitor, analyze, and report training KPIs (completion rates, competency pass rates, reduction in documentation errors, time-to-competency) and present findings to clinical leadership with recommendations for improvement.
Perform routine chart audits and documentation reviews to identify training gaps, regulatory risk, and opportunities to improve clinical quality and compliance; coordinate targeted remediation and follow-up training.
Implement and manage learning content in the Learning Management System (LMS) — create modules, assign curricula, track completions, and generate compliance reports for internal and external audits.
Partner with Quality, Clinical Governance, and Risk teams to integrate training content that addresses sentinel events, near misses, and quality metrics; develop corrective action training plans when required.
Facilitate refresher training on medications administration, controlled substance handling, vaccine protocols, and point-of-care testing (strep, flu, COVID, urinalysis), including competency verification and documentation of results.
Coach and mentor clinical preceptors and site champions to create a consistent “train-the-trainer” network that scales best practices across multiple urgent care locations.
Adapt training content for adult learning preferences using blended methodologies: eLearning, microlearning, simulation, on-the-job coaching, case-based learning, and competency-based sign-offs.
Support onboarding and training for new clinic openings and expansions — conduct site readiness assessments, staff competency mapping, and rapid clinical orientation to ensure safe, efficient launch.
Coordinate and schedule recurring mandatory trainings (BLS/ACLS/PALS recertification, OSHA, HIPAA, infection control) and maintain an up-to-date training calendar aligned to regulatory cycles.
Act as a clinical resource during go-lives, EMR upgrades, protocol changes, and process improvement initiatives to minimize operational disruption and reinforce standard work.
Deliver one-on-one performance coaching and remediation plans for clinicians identified with practice gaps through audits, patient complaints, or leadership feedback; document progress and outcomes.
Create job aids, videos, competency evaluation forms, and quick-reference tools to support point-of-care learning and reduce cognitive load for busy clinicians.
Maintain and continuously improve a robust library of training materials, version control, and audit-ready documentation for compliance reviews and credentialing processes.
Lead cross-functional working groups to pilot new clinical workflows and assess training needs, then translate pilot learnings into scalable training programs across the enterprise.
Evaluate third-party training vendors, simulation products, and certifications; recommend and coordinate external training partnerships to augment internal capabilities.
Stay current on urgent care clinical best practices, emerging treatments, telehealth workflows, and regulatory changes to update training content proactively.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Clinical training design and curriculum development specific to urgent care and ambulatory settings.
Strong proficiency with Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Cornerstone, Absorb, or similar for content creation, assignment, and reporting.
Hands-on clinical skills: triage, wound care, splinting, basic suturing, point-of-care testing (strep, flu, glucose), medication administration, and vaccine handling.
EMR experience (Epic, Cerner, Athena, or urgent-care templates) with demonstrated ability to develop documentation standards and train end users.
Simulation facilitation and debriefing skills for high-acuity scenario training (mannequin-based or tabletop).
Competency assessment design, observation techniques, remediation planning, and documentation.
Quality improvement and data literacy: ability to analyze training metrics, audit findings, and present actionable recommendations (Excel, Power BI basics).
Regulatory and compliance knowledge: CMS, CLIA, OSHA, HIPAA, and Joint Commission standards relevant to ambulatory urgent care.
Familiarity with adult learning principles, instructional design models (ADDIE, Bloom’s taxonomy), and blended learning methodologies.
Project management skills: planning training rollouts, coordinating cross-functional stakeholders, and tracking milestones.
Technical content creation: video recording, job aid development, eLearning authoring tools (Articulate, Camtasia) is preferred.

Soft Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication with the ability to present to clinical and non-clinical audiences.
Strong interpersonal skills — coaching, mentoring, and conflict resolution.
Patient-centered mindset with strong commitment to clinical quality and safety.
Critical thinking and problem-solving to translate audit findings into targeted training.
Flexibility and adaptability to work across multiple sites and respond to urgent go-live needs.
Organizational skills with strong attention to detail and documentation quality.
Collaborative team player who can build relationships with clinical leadership, operations, and HR.
Empathy and emotional intelligence when delivering performance feedback or remediation.
Time management and ability to prioritize competing training needs.
Resilience and comfort working in a fast-paced clinical environment with frequent change.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or equivalent clinical credential (e.g., Paramedic) and active clinical licensure where applicable (RN license in state of practice).

Preferred Education:

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or higher; Master's degree in Nursing Education, Healthcare Education, or related field preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Nursing (ADN, BSN)
Nursing Education or Clinical Education
Emergency Medicine / Urgent Care Nursing
Health Sciences / Healthcare Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of direct urgent care, emergency department, or ambulatory clinical experience with 1–3 years in a training, preceptor, or educator role.

Preferred:

3+ years of urgent care or ED clinical experience and at least 1–2 years in a formal clinical education, simulation, or training capacity.
Prior experience with EMR build/training, LMS administration, competency program management, and performance coaching.
Certifications such as BLS; ACLS/PALS preferred for clinical training; Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) or similar is a plus.