Looking nurse practitioner preceptor

Buyer beware, BSN · Jul 15, 2016

I want the U.S. nursing world to know so it should no longer be the most outrageous best kept secret of all time. When you go to a school that tells you you will be reponsible for finding your own preceptors in NP school you have just started to play the first round of Russian Roulette with your career.

OB/GYN and PEDS are always the most incredibly hard preceptorships to get. This has been a longstanding problem because in most towns and cities there is significant competition with other nursing schools both private, not for profit, for profit, PA and medical schools for the relativly few available slots. If the school you are presently attending (and I suspect it is a for-profit) does not have any contractural or other-wise good connections within the preceptor community you are screwed because you are not competing on a level playing field. Schools like South University owned by EDMC are notorious for the deception of implying they can help with this extremly important aspect of your NP education but by the time you get to the preceptorships and spend tons of money and time, the truth about preceptors comes out. University of Phoenix plays the same deception. The BONs of the various states and Nursing's main accrediting body has nothing to say on this issue, and let this situation go on year after year. Why? Power and money. Thanks leadership.

So when considering NP school attend the ones that do have preceptors lined-up to help you succeed and have them put it in writing. Preceptors are asked by the for-profits to train their NP students for free, usually involving hundreds of hours and they resent it. Some preceptors will charge you personally $600.00 plus and then still not guarantee to precept you when the time comes and since there's is very little or nothing in it for them they will break their preceptor promises to you in a second.

Hugh Warning For Male NP students: There is an incredible deeply entrenched bias against males in the OB/GYN exam room. All the more reason to attend a program where this kind of stupidity should have been resolved in the 19th century. So again, make sure you pin down any school about the preceptor situation and then exclude them if they don't have a substantive way to not only help you get a preceptor but vet and actually get you a preceptor. The money and the time involved in finding out you have to drop a program over this issue after being so close to completion is indeed a life-changing experience. Don't fall victim. You're a smart person. Now you're even smarter.

NC-ED-RN, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2016

I want the U.S. nursing world to know so it should no longer be the most outrageous best kept secret of all time. When you go to a school that tells you you will be reponsible for finding your own preceptors in NP school you have just started to play the first round of Russian Roulette with your career.
OB/GYN and PEDS are always the most incredibly hard preceptorships to get. This has been a longstanding problem because in most towns and cities there is significant competition with other nursing schools both private, not for profit, for profit, PA and medical schools for the relativly few available slots. If the school you are presently attending (and I suspect it is a for-profit) does not have any contractural or other-wise good connections within the preceptor community you are screwed because you are not competing on a level playing field. Schools like South University owned by EDMC are notorious for the deception of implying they can help with this extremly important aspect of your NP education but by the time you get to the preceptorships and spend tons of money and time, the truth about preceptors comes out. University of Phoenix plays the same deception. The BONs of the various states and Nursing's main accrediting body has nothing to say on this issue, and let this situation go on year after year. Why? Power and money. Thanks leadership.
So when considering NP school attend the ones that do have preceptors lined-up to help you succeed and have them put it in writing. Preceptors are asked by the for-profits to train their NP students for free, usually involving hundreds of hours and they resent it. Some preceptors will charge you personally $600.00 plus and then still not guarantee to precept you when the time comes and since there's is very little or nothing in it for them they will break their preceptor promises to you in a second.
Hugh Warning For Male NP students: There is an incredible deeply entrenched bias against males in the OB/GYN exam room. All the more reason to attend a program where this kind of stupidity should have been resolved in the 19th century. So again, make sure you pin down any school about the preceptor situation and then exclude them if they don't have a substantive way to not only help you get a preceptor but vet and actually get you a preceptor. The money and the time involved in finding out you have to drop a program over this issue after being so close to completion is indeed a life-changing experience. Don't fall victim. You're a smart person. Now you're even smarter.

I'm starting to wonder if you are just out to scare people on this forum. I'm working towards starting an NP program and have come across your posts a few times, and you may have some good input, but where are you getting all of your information? Why don't you add some of your credentials and experience to your profile?

All I will say is that I had no problem standing in on OB/GYN exams in my RN/BSN program. I frequently stand in on pelvic exams in the emergency department I work in, as long as the patient is okay with it. Also, the female physicians never have an issue with my male presence. I think it is all about how you convey your clinical confidence, professionalism, and how well communicate with your preceptor and patient.

Like I said, you are probably right about some of the for-profit issues, but where are you coming from?

mookyjoe, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Jul 18, 2016

I can tell you I had no clue how tedious it would be to cold call every single clinic office from my city to up to 4 hours away before I found all my preceptors that I needed. You seriously cannot be picky about "maybe I'll find something closer." They don't exist! I took every single no like a personal attack on my nursey being, but I also knew some yesses were bound to happen...eventually. I live in the Vanderbilt district and every clinic within 100 mile only takes Vandy students because they have that many collaborative agreements. Vandy is also one of the only schools that actually places students in clinicals, but that comes at a $40,000 price tag for a MSN. Me? I took the cheap option, which was find my own. I had interviews even because some preceptors had such awful experiences with other students they took on they wished they never had. I work in critical care so that's why I had such a hard time finding preceptors in general. If you work in a hospital then finding preceptors is certainly easier. I happened to have moved and lost all those precious contacts I made! It's still doable, one year in advance, even with no one knowing you. Marketing yourself is sort of difficult, but with practice from all the "No's" it gets easier. Best of luck to all. The struggle is real folks!

WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN · Jul 18, 2016

I obtained my OB rotation through contacts made at an APRN dinner. Look into attending meetings and other networking opportunities. Then on a day off, if you are fortunate to have that, dress up as if you are going for an interview, take folders with your cover letter, resume, and objectives from office to office.

The latter also netted me my Peds rotation and a potential job offer.