Petition to Force NP Programs to Provide Preceptors

Nursing Students NP Students

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I've been reading through some threads, and it seems a large number are people desperately looking for preceptors so they can complete clinicals. I wondered how widespread this problem is, and starting searching online - my results were astounding. There are literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of stories online of people having to drop out of their NP program because they cannot find preceptors. This is absolutely unacceptable. Why is it okay for a program to take your money and not actually provide your education? It's bad for education quality, it's bad for professional perception, and it's just deplorable.

I would like to start a petition to the AACN/CCNE asking them to require NP programs to set up clinical rotations for students in order to gain accreditation. The whole purpose of accreditation is to ensure programs are competent and teaching what needs to be taught, and they are doing potential students a huge disservice by allowing programs to exist that do not meet these standards.

Would anyone else be willing to sign this petition?

another post showing that people don't understand college is a business.

Don't like it? Don't buy it. If people keep buying, why change?

Maybe the people need to realize if they don't want to put the time and effort into becoming an NP at a decent school. Stay an RN. Still a respectable profession. And if you can only get into the crappy for profit programs, maybe your grades aren't good enough.

Force a school to precept, ha. That's like forcing walmart to increase the minimum wage of their workers.

Although I have not attempted the Np Programs, I am a casualty of one of the 1st 2 yr RN programs in the early 70's that did not offer much clinical, 2 mornings/ wk. As a result I never attempted a med surg job, and after a decade many employers knew to avoid these graduates, and would only hire experienced. At age 60,I'm now unable to do the "heavy lifting in In/Pt Psychiatry and I'm up the proverbial creek. I highly recommend and will sign any petition to help NP students get more clinical through preceptorship. C.DeCapua

Hello

I just graduated with an MSN but fully support the NP's role in healthcare. The APNP's I have worked with were models of professionalism and excellence.

I had to find my own preceptor too for my program. It is so important to be part of this piece of learning and navigating a new role. The University I graduated from asked me if I would like to be on the preceptor/mentor list and I said Yes without even thinking about it. It is not for everyone but I believe I could empower another student and am motivated.

I noticed that my state nurses association had a post from an RN that needed to locate a CNS to precept/mentor her graduate project.

If you need help with the petition research aspect e.g. policies, literature search peer reviewed, etc and or writing let me know if I can help.

I would like to sign that petition also!

Specializes in psychiatric.

USSTusk..........Exactly! I have been doing the same, my school provides preceptors but I have networked for this very reason as I also had some nightmare RN preceptors. I am paying for a masters education and I feel I should receive the best education possible from people who are willing to teach, enjoy it, and want to share their extensive expertise.

"why would admitting more students mean they stretch their resources less?"

Because they get paid per STUDENT not per GRADUATE.

Specializes in Labor and Delivery, ICU.

Yes, I would

I feel there are bigger problems in nursing education than just the preceptor issue.

Ready to sign, let's get the petition started :yes:

I think that, when researching programs, people should make it a point to only choose from those that provide preceptors. It's not feasible to select a program that you are aware doesn't assist with that process and then be disappointed when clinicals begin and you have a tough time locating preceptors. There may be schools that don't provide them, but many that do. Just look elsewhere if a school doesn't meet your needs.

Specializes in Emergency.
I think that, when researching programs, people should make it a point to only choose from those that provide preceptors. It's not feasible to select a program that you are aware doesn't assist with that process and then be disappointed when clinicals begin and you have a tough time locating preceptors. There may be schools that don't provide them, but many that do. Just look elsewhere if a school doesn't meet your needs.

I couldn't agree more, people should research the programs that meet their needs. Some, need a program that provides the preceptors for them. Typically they either need to have one in their geographical area, or be able to relocate to the geographical area that the school provides preceptors in at least for the clinical portion of the program.

On the other hand there are students who for various reasons can't relocate to the location of the school. They should be able to choose programs that offer the advantage of finding one's own preceptors. It has been found that rural students who are able to obtain their education in their home community are far more likely to remain in that community after obtaining the education. For this reason alone, I believe that allowing students to find their own preceptors is a benefit to the NP profession.

Now, I would be a strong proponent of requiring schools who offer the students the freedom to obtain their own preceptors, to also be required to find preceptors for those students if they cannot. Those preceptors, might be in other locations, and it might require the student to travel, incur extra expenses, etc., but it would allow the student to finish their education. I know of several students who have gotten to some point in their clinicals at my school and had an emergency because the preceptor fell through, notified the school, and the school's regional clinical faculty and credentialing office has helped find the student a preceptor, typically in another town in their region. I don't think this would be too onerous of a burden placed on the programs.

Based solely on the comments made on this forum, and a couple other sites where I've seen preceptors mention how certain programs don't seem to be monitoring the progress of their students while in their clinical practicums, I would also suggest that there be stricter guidelines placed on the programs for them to monitor the progress of the students in their clinical practicums. This would help to alleviate the concerns many have about the quality of the graduates in the programs today.

Specializes in Emergency.

The online NP program that I am planning to attend allows me the luxury of choosing my own preceptor, from NPs to MDs. Having also been an ER nurse, I had the chance to meet and collaborate with many physicians from all different specialties (hospitalists, OBs, PEDs, etc) and many of them said they would be happy to have me as a student. The "back-up" plan was that the advisor told me that if I had any trouble finding any preceptors, they would be able to assist me and locate clinical preceptors in my area. I opted to base my decision of attending certain online NP programs due to a lot of reasons. The main one is whether or not I would be able to choose my own preceptors. One school had pre-set clinical sites already, however with my current life, I have no idea what kind of schedule I would have by the time I am at the point when clinicals are starting. Having this "luxury" of finding my own preceptors, making my own clinical schedule and precepting with NP/MDs that I want to learn from made this decision all the more easier for me.

However, I do agree that these online programs *SHOULD* assist the student in finding preceptors... otherwise, like everyone else said, the best bet would obviously be to choose another program and give someone deserving your hard earned money.

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