What Makes A Good Preceptorship Program?

“There's an improved retention in nurses when they feel like they've had a good preceptorship program. There's a build in confidence and skills within the nurses, and there's a better job satisfaction…and patient care is improved.”

In this video, Debbie discusses preceptorship programs, what employers can do to provide them and the link between good programs and nurse retention.

Hello, my name is Debbie and I'm a Practice Nurse in London. Today, I'm going to be talking about what makes a good preceptorship program, and this is mainly for employers.

Preceptorship Programs & Their Benefits

Now, what is a preceptorship program? This is a time of structured support for Newly Qualified Nurses, or if you are new to a role, to ensure that you are going from newly qualified or new to a role, to becoming an autonomous practitioner whereby you are able to work confidently and competently in your role. Essentially, you're putting the knowledge that you have into practice.

Many times, especially with the nursing crisis that's going on now with staffing, a lot of nurses are becoming newly qualified and just being thrown into the deep end.

As much as this may have its pros and its cons, the benefits are there on the NMC website, such as it shows that there's an improved retention in nurses when they feel like they've had a good preceptorship program. There's a build in confidence and skills within the nurses, and there's a better job satisfaction.

You feel like you've been guided well into your new career or this new role that you've taken. And essentially, and what's most important is that patient care is improved.

How Can Employers Deliver Good Programs?

So how can organizations ensure that their preceptorship program is causing nurses to not want to leave or giving nurses that confidence to start in their new role?

I’’ll use myself as an example. When I started my role, I was pretty much thrown into the deep end. Now, this is a lot different because in a GP practice, it's a lot slower pace and so, that means that I'm able to still learn effectively, I'm able to shadow effectively.

However, in some environment such as the ward, it's not always that easy.

And so, here are a few tips for employers on how to ensure that they are providing a good preceptorship program.

Regular Check Ins

Number one, I would say, is regular check-ins. When I was a student, I remember having amazing mentors. Once a week, we'd sit down and discuss what's happened that week, how has it been, and I think this is very important.

It's very hard, and I can't stress it enough, as a student, to be chasing your mentor, and not just as a student, as a Newly Qualified Nurse as well, to be chasing the person that's supposed to be guiding you.

Maybe they're not in that day or they're on annual leave and you didn't know, and you just feel like you've just been left to do something. And that can be very difficult. I think it's important, as employers, that it is set out who are my go-tos, who is the person that I need to contact when my mentor is not here, and just making sure that there's that regular communication with the preceptee.

Constructive Feedback

Another thing, and these are for preceptors (people who are guiding the newly qualified staff), is making sure that you have constructive feedback.

There's nothing worse than feeling like you can't do it, or you made a mistake here and there. We understand, students understand, Newly Qualified Nurses understand that there is so much learning to do so there's nothing worse than feeling like somebody has nitpicked at every single one of your flaws whilst you are still learning, it demoralizes and doesn't build confidence.

There's an improved retention in nurses when they feel like they've had a good preceptorship program. There's a build in confidence and skills within the nurses, and there's a better job satisfaction…and patient care is improved.

Goal Setting

Another thing is goal setting. Ensuring that as a preceptor, you, and the Student or Newly Qualified Nurse, whatever the case may be, has clear set goals on where you would like them to be and where that person would want to be in a few months’ time.

Unrealistic goals can be set, and it's important that both preceptee and preceptor understand the goals that are being set, and that there's no unrealistic expectation from either side.

Pace And Boundaries

Another thing is ensuring that a good pace is set. When it comes to goal setting, a lot of the times it's, “in three months’ time, you've got to be doing X, Y, and Z, or in one months’ time or in six months’ time”. And again, that comes down to unrealistic expectations.

As a preceptee, you need to know what your boundaries are and how much you are able to do, and as a preceptor, you need to respect the fact that, okay, you have employed this person to do X, Y, and Z, and with the nursing crisis, again, it can be very difficult when somebody is not able to do everything that needs to be done because they're short of staff or there's just so much going on.

But it's important that with such a high-risk role as nursing, and the fact that our pin is so fragile, that that person is not being rushed into doing certain things when they don't feel competent enough to not, and making sure that they are not doing those things to ensure patient safety.

Good Preceptorship Programs Create Retention

There are so many links between a good preceptorship program and nurse retention, and I think it's so worth it to ensure that when a nurse is starting a particular role, they are guided correctly, otherwise they will leave.

I am so fortunate in that although I was thrown into the deep end, I was guided so well, and for some people that worked.

For some people, they would rather step by step, each task is explained each of the way, but for me, it was just, "Start, and what you don't know, we will work through it. And then you'll go on courses, and you'll do X, Y, and Z”, but not a lot of people are afforded that opportunity and that support.

I think it's very important that as employers, we're ensuring that that structured support in this preceptorship time is provided to ensure satisfaction and confidence, competence, and nurse retention.