Preceptor Clinical Responsibilities

Policy Title: Preceptor Clinical Teaching Responsibilities

Effective Date: Summer, 2008

Policy

Preceptors are vitally important members of the clinical teaching team. College of Nursing faculty, staff, and administrators appreciate their contributions and believe their active engagement in understanding the curriculum, the particular course in which their student preceptee is enrolled, and the ways in which students are learning to practice using the relevant national nursing standards all are important aspects of a quality learning experience. Similarly, the perspective of the preceptor on trends in clinical nursing practice, needs of the clinical agency, department, unit, or clinic and any other issues that influence both student learning and safe and high quality patient care are critical contributions to the totality of the learning experience. Although faculty members are responsible for evaluating students' clinical performance and awarding grades, input from preceptors is vital to providing a comprehensive evaluation that will provide useful feedback to students.

The responsibilities of preceptors are to:

Orient clinical students to the clinical facility as appropriate;
Assign students to appropriate clients in clinical settings using course objectives and clinical guidelines in the syllabus;
Communicate to faculty and students in a timely manner any specific requirements of clinical sites (i.e., special immunizations, parking requirements, restrictions, orientations, etc.);
Coach students about assessing clinical needs of patients, making clinical and nursing diagnostic decisions as appropriate for the course, prioritizing care management needs, coordinating care, and working as a member of an interprofessional team as appropriate for the course objectives;
Provide evaluation feedback to students on a regular and ongoing basis and inform clinical instructor about students' progress;
Complete a clinical evaluation for each student based upon clinical outcomes/objectives;
Keep each clinical student apprised of any clinical outcomes/objectives not being met on an ongoing basis. Document such information on a Counseling Form and have student sign the Form that describes clinical difficulty, steps to be taken to improve clinical performance, and the consequences should performance not improve. A copy of the Counseling Form is to be given to the student and the clinical faculty member.
Notify the clinical faculty member immediately if an event occurs that creates risks to patient or student safety;
Evaluate the total clinical learning experience and provide the written evaluation to the clinical faculty member;
Make recommendations for improvements in the clinical learning experience to benefit students' learning, the preceptor experience, and the experience of the other nursing and interprofessional staff members working with the students.

Rationale

To assure excellence in students' clinical learning experiences and in the clinical precepting experiences of highly qualified nurse clinicians.

Related Procedures

Refer to specific guidelines for student clinical experiences in relevant course syllabi.

Policy is __X____ New ______ Revised
Policy Prepared by:	Administrative Team	Date: February 18, 2008