What I've Taken from Good Preceptors

[Vespertinas]

I've had good, I've had bad, I've had in between. I've probably started anew too many times for my short career.

Looking back, these were the positive traits that my preceptors had that have helped me as a nurse and as a preceptor:

I asked lots of questions. One preceptor struck a fine balance between giving me immediate answers or encouraging me to seek them out myself. Whether she knew the answer herself was beside the point, she enabled me to find answers once I was independent by introducing me to all my available resources. Teach a man to fish...

She never let me disparage myself. It doesn't take a lot to shake a new grad's confidence and the seed of insecurity can grow deep roots. A "dumb mistake" was turned into inattentiveness, being "awful" at starting IVs just meant I needed more practice.

She went beyond her capacity as a preceptor to show me that she was there for me as an ally. She always saw me through to the end of my shift, showed me that I could confide in her, and stood up for me when the situation called for it.

She allowed me the freedom to exercise my thought process by showing patience and non-judgement (through all the wrong answers and drawn-out contemplation)

She introduced me to EVERY member of the staff we ever came into contact with.

She gave me a heads up on what each attending was peculiar about.

There's a lot more. A good preceptor is worth their weight in gold. What I would give to have the opportunity to have some of you on AN precept me... When successful, the whole preceptor/orientee interaction is probably my favorite part of nursing.

[All4NursingRN]

Amen!