student nurse needs advice about preceptors

Specialties Educators

Published

Hello to all-

I have been looking all over for the right group to seek advice. I am a nurse student and am transferring to an online school in order to finish up earlier. I am responsible to find possible clinical sites and preceptors and the colleges clincial liasion helps to make the final arrangements. Anyway, I already work as an aide at a small 136 bed hospital and thought that it would be a great start for a couple of my clinicals. My manager is making sure that it is acceptable. I was speaking to some of the nurses I work with about doing clinicals there and they were very rude and discouraging. One of them told me good luck finding any nurse here willing to precept you. No one will put their licensure up and be responsible for any student. The nurses also can not believe that precepting me does not involve extra compensation by the college.(precepting would be during reg shift). The also said I should look to do something else besides nursing. I said that I can't, I do not feel passionate about anything else like I do with nursing. They said well look forward to a bad back, no pension or health insurance when you retire. If anyone could please give me some adivice? thank you

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I do not suggest what you are trying to do. If you do not have a set clinical program, you are going to have issues later on, and especially if you are in a smaller hospital. You are also going to have issues if for some reason that you decide to move later to another state.

Make sure that you fully understand the ramifications that come up later and bite you. Please do your homework beforehand...............

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

That's very discouraging and I understand your frustration. How did they get their license to practice, but for someone precepting them?

Is there another hospital that is known to have students? My hospital has CNA, LPN, ADN, BSN, paramedic, respiratory, radiology, pt students all over the place. Find a hospital like that.

What you're asking is a bit odd, in that you won't have an instructor with you, which is probably what makes them feel like they are putting their license on the line. Be sure to explain that their license is in no more jeopardy that when they precepted one-on-one when they were in nursing school.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Again, as Suzanne says, do your homework.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have checked with the NLN and the college is accreditated I also checked with the michigan board of nursing to make sure that there would not be any problem for an entry level student taking online classes and doing clinicals at a local hospital. I have to go to st louis for a day for a skill validation before i can start clinicals, then the last week of every semester for further validation thereafter in order to progress. I already have medical training. I am a basic emt and I have phlebotomy skills. I could see someone who does not have any healthcare experience at all should try another route. My situation is that there is at least between a 2-5 year wait in michigan to get into a nursing program. This is because the lack of instructors at the colleges and universities. I am tired of the waiting and would like to be done before my science pre reqs exprire (there is a 5yr limit at most colleges) I work on a med/surg floor that also has a joint replacement program. I have observed and assisted the nurses many times with foleys, ivs etc. my queston that i posted was about the nurses reaction i received about precepting at my hospital. They are against colleges who bring in students with clinical instructors as well because they say nurses shifts get canceled on those days. So I feel that I can not win. What do you think about that?

I do not suggest what you are trying to do. If you do not have a set clinical program, you are going to have issues later on, and especially if you are in a smaller hospital. You are also going to have issues if for some reason that you decide to move later to another state.

Make sure that you fully understand the ramifications that come up later and bite you. Please do your homework beforehand...............

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I know that skills constantly evolve and nothing is timeless. I am a lifelong learner, I love to learn about many different things. If I go through the program that i am considering, I will be endorsed (if that is correct word) by the MO board of Nursing and I would take NCLEXRN Exam in MI. My hospital is part of a health system that has a much larger hospital in ann arbor i just wanted to take some of the clinicals i could at my hospital (closer, less scary a drive!)

That's very discouraging and I understand your frustration. How did they get their license to practice, but for someone precepting them?

Is there another hospital that is known to have students? My hospital has CNA, LPN, ADN, BSN, paramedic, respiratory, radiology, pt students all over the place. Find a hospital like that.

What you're asking is a bit odd, in that you won't have an instructor with you, which is probably what makes them feel like they are putting their license on the line. Be sure to explain that their license is in no more jeopardy that when they precepted one-on-one when they were in nursing school.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Again, as Suzanne says, do your homework.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Please do a search on this site for where you are wishing to go to school. If for some reason that you ever move, it will not be accepted all over.

I never, ever, thought that I would ever live in CA, and here I am. They will not accept the training from that school for licensure here, there are also about six others currently.

And if you are relying on nurses to be your preceptors at work, but they have never taught, and you do not have an instructor around??? You are not going to get all of the material that you are going to need...........

And if you are in a smaller rural facility, you are definitely going to be missing out on things.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

It's a shame your coworkers won't help you. After all, we've all had to be precepted at one point in time. Do you have an educator, or someone who can point you out to a preceptor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
That's very discouraging and I understand your frustration. How did they get their license to practice, but for someone precepting them?

They got their licenses the same way most of us did, by going to a nursing school where we were taught clinical by clinical instructors who were employed faculty of the school we attended ...

This is different from being a staff nurse and working with students from a local nursing program, in that those students have a clinical instructor who is a faculty member of the school, and are the legal responsibility of their clinical instructor, practicing under her/his license. I've been nursing faculty, and I was legally responsible (as the clinical instructor of my group of students) for the actions of "my" students whether I was standing next to them at the bedside, they were down the hall doing something with a staff nurse, or they were doing a community-based clinical experience miles away from where I was with the main group of students! The staff nurses who worked with them were not responsible for the students -- it was my license on the line if something went wrong.

It is v. difficult for me to understand how, in a situation like the OP describes, the "precepting" nurse (basically, the clinical instructor) would not be legally responsible for the acts of the student -- someone has to be, and who else is there?? -- so, yes, the preceptor would be agreeing to take a greater risk with her/his license. Toss in that there's no financial compensation for doing so, and I can well understand why nurses would be unwilling to agree to such an arrangement. I certainly would be!

Granted, nursing faculty don't get paid much, but they do get paid something for teaching nursing ... :chuckle In this situation, the school and its students are basically asking nurses to agree to be the school's clinical instructors, in addition to doing their regular jobs, out of the goodness of their hearts, for nothing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Granted, nursing faculty don't get paid much, but they do get paid something for teaching nursing ... :chuckle In this situation, the school and its students are basically asking nurses to agree to be the school's clinical instructors, in addition to doing their regular jobs, out of the goodness of their hearts, for nothing.

I am the liaison between my hospital and all of the schools of nursing in the area who do clinicals here. We have a policy not to accept students for clinicals such as the one the OP is describing for most of the same reasons mentioned by elkpark and others. We are running a hospital, not a school of nursing. We are not going to do the school's work for them for nothing in return.

We do make a few exceptions. For example ... We will preceptor a student in a BSN completion program whose clinicals do not involve a lot of direct patient care, particularly if that student is also an employee. Most such cases involve the student who already has an RN license who is taking a leadership course or something. We will also go out of our way to help out an employee who is taking a graduate level course.

What we generally do not do ... is to provide the basic "introductory" level nursing courses. We feel that is the job of the nursing school that is getting paid to provide the education -- and we don't want our staff (who are not educated as faculty members) to take on that responsibility.

llg

Up Vote Up Vote ×

We have a program at our hospitals were nursing students are paired up w/experienced nurses during the summer in a mentor type program. The students are employees of the hospital in this role. Staff volunteer and to date our experiences have been very positive. With that said - it is very time consuming to incorporate meeting the needs of an eager learner with the needs of your patients. Patients come first and our students are well aware that some days might have less "learning" and more "tasks" than others. Many of our summer students have returned to our facilities seeking employment as nurses. :nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I know that skills constantly evolve and nothing is timeless. I am a lifelong learner, I love to learn about many different things. If I go through the program that i am considering, I will be endorsed (if that is correct word) by the MO board of Nursing and I would take NCLEXRN Exam in MI. My hospital is part of a health system that has a much larger hospital in ann arbor i just wanted to take some of the clinicals i could at my hospital (closer, less scary a drive!)

You won't be getting licensed first in MO, or will you? Then you actually will not be endorsing. Wouldn't you be applying to MI for initial licensure?

Endorsement means that you have already received a license in another state and are applying to the second state for licensure, that is what is meant by endorsement.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If you have never actually taught nursing, then you do not realize how much work that actually has to go into it. Normally, when the student is in a "normal" program, there are pre- an post-conferences where they discuss what they did that day, ways to improve, etc. And what their goals are for that week or even month...........as a preceptor on the floor, it is normally not your responsibility to develop these programs. And usually when you precept, it is for a nurse that already has their license.

Without a nursing instructor being there, then the nurse that has agreed to do the precepting is using her/his license for the training, and no compensation for it either.

Most would not agree to do that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment