Abstract
Preceptors play a crucial role in the education of nursing students and ensuring the incoming workforce will be competent. Part of being a Registered Nurse (RN) in Aotearoa New Zealand comes with the expectation to precept students throughout one’s career. Worldwide, precepting is a role that is seen as integral to the progression of the nursing workforce, yet many factors can hinder a nurse’s ability to precept appropriately. Literature from Aotearoa regarding precepting nursing students is limited, especially from a private hospital perspective. The aim of this thesis was to explore how RN preceptors in private hospitals experience the role as a preceptor, including how they perceive their role in a student’s journey. A qualitative descriptive exploratory approach, underpinned by a pragmatic view was undertaken. Recruitment took place from two private hospitals in Aotearoa. Purposive and snowball sampling took place, and eight participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview technique. Transcribed interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged from this analysis, being: Role Confusion as a Preceptor, Precepting and the ‘Normal’ Working Day, and Pathway of the Student Nurse.
This study has demonstrated that precepting is an expectation for nurses, where a balance must occur between the nurse’s responsibility to patients, alongside taking on the responsibility of ensuring that the student will become a safe and competent nurse. Additionally, communication is a crucial factor in healthcare, and for precepting particularly. Preceptors want improvements to communication between themselves and educational institutions, as well as the implementation of specific guidelines or policy’s regarding precepting. The participants noted that precepting is mentally taxing and demanding, to which nurse managers must be aware of when deciding which nurses will precept, as there is the potential for preceptors to become apathetic towards precepting, or burnt out. Training for preceptors is an important way for preceptors to feel confident in the role and understand role expectations. Therefore, it is suggested that all nurses should complete a training course prior to precepting students.