From Doer to Coach: The Hardest Clinical Skill is Keeping Your Hands in Your Pockets

Why is the hardest clinical skill for a new nurse educator simply keeping their hands in their pockets? We call it the ‘Rescue Reflex.’ Navigating the gap between Expert Clinician and the Novice Educator requires us to fight our own biology. This article explores the neuroscience behind why we jump in to fix student mistakes—and why stopping that reflex is the key to protecting the future nursing workforce.