Working Toward a Competency-Based Preceptor Development Program

Abstract

Preceptorship programs are widely used in nursing education and transition to practice. This article describes a variety of improvements implemented in an academic health sciences center on the basis of findings from a study previously conducted with preceptors in the same institution. A long-standing preceptor preparation program was redesigned and expanded into two levels-an introductory workshop directed toward meeting the needs of new preceptors, and an advanced workshop for experienced preceptors. Organization-specific preceptor competencies were developed as a foundation for preceptor practice. The competencies also informed the revised preceptor development program that included selection, ongoing development, and evaluation. A more structured support system, a standardized performance feedback process, and additional recognition strategies were incorporated in the new competency-based preceptor program. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2016;47(9):427-432.

Measuring and assessing the competencies of preceptors in health professions: a systematic scoping review.

“…Careful screening provided 36 papers fitting the selection criteria. Hand searching found an additional 5 references, resulting in a total of 41 (8)(9)(10)(11) articles to be included for review ( Figure 1).…”

“…Of the 41 included articles, 26 were conducted in the United States (9, 10, 25, 26, 28-31, 33-36, 38-40, 44-48, 50-52, 56, 59) , three in Canada (8,11,54) , two in Taiwan (42,43) , two in Iran (27) , and one each in Thailand (57) , Ethiopia (53) ,Saudi (24) , Brazil (37) , Australia (49) , Sweden (58) , Belgium (55) and the United Kingdom (32) . Seventeen were based on preceptorship/education in medicine (10, 31, 32, 35, 44, 46, 50-52, 54-56, 58-60) , twelve in pharmacy (9, 11, 24-26, 30, 33, 34, 36, 38, 53, 57) , and eleven in nursing (8,27,28,37,(40)(41)(42)(43)(47)(48)(49) and one in dentistry (45) . There were twelve quantitative studies (25,26,30,33,35,39,46,47,49,53,57) , ten qualitative studies (29,34,37,41,42,44,…”

“…Competencies comprise a combination of knowledge, skills, abilities or attributes ( PSA competency standards). Multiple preceptor competencies have been articulated in the literature such as effective communication skills and being a role model practitioner (8)(9)(10)(11) . However, the evidence for identified…”

The effect of preceptorship on nurses' training and preparation with implications for Qatar: A literature review

“…Some studies on preceptorship most often attempt to clarify the effects of preceptorship on new nurses [2,3] and approaches to increase retention rate. [4] A few qualitative studies have examined nurses' perceptions to identify their learning needs as a preceptor, [5,6] while other studies examined preceptors and preceptees perceptions to facilitate preceptorship model implementation.…”

“…[2,9] Preceptorship is defined as an educational model which facilitates a skill and motivates new nurses to be role models. [10] It is also defined as "a formal, one-to-one relationship of predetermined length, between experienced nurses (preceptor) and novice nurse (preceptee) designed to assist the novice nurse in successfully adjusting to and performing a new role".…”