Preparing clinical preceptors to teach master's-level students in oncology nursing

Professional learning partnerships: a collaboration between education and service

Escalating mental health care needs coupled with a decreasing nurse labor force demand a fundamental paradigm shift in undergraduate education and service partnerships among psychiatric-mental health nursing students and practicing nurses. The purpose of this two-group comparative study was to identify factors that contribute to a successful learning partnership between nursing students and practicing nurses engaged in a clinical specialty partnership program within an acute psychiatric-mental health setting. The convenience sample consisted of 51 partners: 33 undergraduate students and 18 practicing nurses. The Learning Partnership Survey was administered to all partners allowing comparison of ranking among factors important to the partner relationship. Contrary to previous research, student and nurse partners were more similar in their factor ranking in the present study. Statistically significant differences were noted in the ranking of 2 of the 15 factors that fostered successful learning partnerships. Implications for professional learning partnerships between nursing academia and service institutions are discussed.

A comparison of North American and European conceptualizations of clinical supervision

Examination of the extant North American and European substantive literature indicates two differing conceptualizations of the purpose and resultant practice of clinical supervision (CS). The North American conceptualization creates the need for all supervisors to be more "expert" in the particular speciality of nursing than the supervisee, and this paper explores some of the hitherto unanswered issues arising from this. The European conceptualization posits supervision as a forum for considering the personal, interpersonal, and clinical aspects of care so as to develop and maintain nurses who are skilled and reflective practitioners. This situation creates the need for supervisors to be effective at supporting nurses in self-monitoring, identifying difficulties in practice, and finding the proper place to make good the deficit, not necessarily to be more expert in the particular nursing speciality.

The pleasure of your company: attitudes and opinions of preceptors toward nurse practitioner preceptees

PURPOSE

To survey the attitudes and opinions of preceptors about their experiences with nurse practitioner students.

DATA SOURCES

Original research using a mailed questionnaire designed by the researchers to 196 physician and nurse practitioner preceptors (23% response rate).

CONCLUSIONS

Preceptors desired faculty support and feedback, wanted involvement in shaping the curriculum, and had strong opinions about the precepting experience.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The attitudes and opinions of preceptors are extremely important to the availability of a qualified and motivated pool of preceptors, the clinical growth of the students, the quality of the student's learning experience, and the survival of nurse practitioner programs.

Mentoring and nurse practitioner student self-efficacy

The relationship between nurse practitioner students and their clinical teachers (preceptors) may have an impact on students' confidence in their ability to take on the advanced practice role of the nurse practitioner. This descriptive, correlational study investigated the relationship between nurse practitioner students' perceptions of mentoring by their clinical preceptors and student self-efficacy. Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory and Biddle's Role Theory provided the framework for the research. Study results may have an impact on graduate nursing program philosophy, clinical placement management strategies, and preceptor selection.

A preceptorship program in an Israeli bone marrow transplantation unit

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) departments are unique in character. This is due largely to the following factors: the diseases treated, long-term hospitalization, strong family involvement in the care of patients, and the use of experimental treatment. Because of these factors, clinical experiences in a BMT unit may be a threatening experience for both nursing students and nurses. The BMT unit at Hadassah Hospital has, therefore, developed and implemented a preceptorship program for nursing students and nurses involved in advanced courses. The program includes three aspects: (a) a comprehensive medical knowledge base, (b) instruction in special nursing skills aimed at meeting both the physical and psychologic needs of BMT patients and their families, and (c) supervised involvement in patient and family education and counseling. Our goal is to enable students to care for patients throughout the BMT experience, from admission to post-BMT follow-up. Feedback elicited from students who have undergone the program was positive. They said that the program helped them overcome their fears and encouraged them to apply for nursing jobs in the unit.

Student and preceptor perceptions of factors in a successful learning partnership

Thirty-two registered nurse preceptors and 42 senior undergraduate nursing students completed a survey ranking factors related to both participants in the clinical learning partnership. Mann-Whitney U-Wilcoxon Rank Sum W tests showed statistically significant differences in the ranking of four factors (the ability to give and receive criticism, knowledge of the preceptoring process, clinical competence, and compatibility) that contribute to successful learning partnerships. Nurse educators and professional nurses should acknowledge these perceptual differences and include these in student and preceptor orientation programs to promote a positive teaching and learning partnership.

Continuing Education for Advanced Nurse Practitioners: Preparing Nurse-Midwives as Clinical Preceptors

Nurses in advance practice roles are increasingly being sought as clinical preceptors for master's students. These nurses have variable experience as clinical teachers. A program was designed to prepare Certified Nurse-Midwives as clinical preceptors for students enrolled in a master's-level nurse-midwifery program. The program focused on techniques to foster clinical decision making, feedback, evaluation, and learning styles. Evaluations were positive and reflected that preceptors benefited from filmed modeling simulations and case study analyses.