How to Develop an Effective Preceptorship Program
Published: 28 April 2019
Published: 28 April 2019
There is a global shortage of nurses.
It's also been found that turnover rates are higher for new nurses than for senior nurses, and that many of these nurses are leaving the nursing field altogether.
Given this, there's a bigger need to recruit, mentor and then retain graduate nurses in the workforce.
How?
The implementation of an effective preceptorship program can assist in all of these areas as well as improve the morale of employees in both the clinical area and wider health service (Duffy & Flower 2017; Owens 2013).
Often, new nurses will experience a culture shock as they transition from study to the workplace and this may lead the newly graduated nurse to feel overwhelmed, unsupported and disillusioned. Often, the first three months of clinical practice have been described as the most stressful time during a nurse’s career.
A preceptorship program can decrease this stress, provide a nurturing environment for the newly graduated nurse, and allow them to learn, grow and adapt to their new role whilst being supported by their peers (Owens 2013).
A preceptorship program ensures graduate nurses:
(Owens 2013)
Preceptors have been found to help graduate nurses to:
As well as these positive results, they have also been found to improve the quality of care that graduate nurse provides to patients, which, in turn, improves patient outcomes and increases job satisfaction (Duffy & Flower 2017).
Prior to commencing a preceptorship program, a needs assessment must be completed. This will help to identify key focus areas to be addressed by the program.
It should also include preceptor training and education relating to teaching, feedback, evaluation and motivation. This will enable the new preceptor to further develop their role and take further ownership of their professional development (Owens 2013).
During the development of a preceptorship program, there should also be opportunities for relevant parties (such as nurse unit managers and any existing preceptors) to discuss and provide feedback on any potential changes and implementations that may occur, and how this will affect the clinical environment. This can assist in identifying any potential barriers to the development and running of the preceptorship program.
Some potential barriers that may be found include:
It is important to address any known barriers during the planning stage (Duffy & Flower 2017; Owens 2013).
During planning, evaluation must also be considered. Evaluation processes should effectively measure the success of the preceptorship program, as well as include a plan for implementing any consequent changes.
This can be done by collecting quantitative data on the retention of newly graduated nurses, as well as qualitative data through interviews and surveys on their job satisfaction and level of support they felt during this transition phase. From here, any potential issues can be identified, and changes made (Owens 2013).
During implementation, it is important that the three main parties of the preceptorship program are aligned and motivated to participate. These roles are as follows:
(Owens 2013)
The following elements should also be addressed in the implementation of a preceptorship program:
(Ford et al. 2013)
Having quality preceptors is a key component of an effective preceptorship program. Preceptors must:
It is also beneficial for them to be full time employees with a minimum of three years working experience (Duffy & Flower 2017).
As mentioned, following the implementation of a preceptorship program, there should be assessable outcomes to measure the effectiveness of the program. These outcomes should already have been determined in the planning stage of the program and could include:
(Owens 2013)
It is vital that the effectiveness of the preceptorship program is evaluated following its implementation. An evaluation is important to ensure not only the effectiveness of the program, but also to ensure the quality of the program is maintained and regularly updated as required.
It is also important to remember that every health service will have slightly different requirements and needs, and therefore, the preceptorship program that they implement and the process of evaluation of the program will need to reflect this.