Any preceptors??

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How have you all gone about finding preceptors for clinicals in the past?? We're responsible for finding our own, but I'm having a hard time. Most places have told me they're not affiliated with the university, so now I feel like I dont know what to do!! It seems as if my fellow classmates know someone who is already an NP/PA, so they aren't having much of a problem.

I did rotations in Okinawa at a Navy hospital and in Texas. :D

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I personally think that if a school offers an NP program, they should provide or at least help find preceptors. Otherwise, they are just taking your money and not offering much in terms of service.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

But the flip side to this is - I didn't want the instructors telling ME who to work with. The few instances that I had preceptors chosen for me were horrid for me.

This is especially true for my peds CNS clinicals - I knew I didn't want to do entirely peds - just wanted to expand my scope to everyone (I'm already an adult health CNS). Unfortunately, one of my mandatory clinicals was in the hospital where everyone wanted to know when I wanted to start work? Well, since I already have a job that I like, that wasn't an option. After that, I was the very bottom of the food chain.

However, the clinicals I chose: ER and URgent Care were much more to my liking.

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I see your point, Trauma. I guess it just galls me when programs charge MSN students for the "precepting" time, yet they do nothing except demand logs from the students, don't help find preceptors, and delay rotations when there isn't a contract between the precepting institution and the MSN granting institution. It's kind of a scam, if you asked me.

My own program allowed us to find our own or provided preceptors for us.

Oldiebutgoodie

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And another thing! (I'm on a roll, now, folks!) Many programs talk about ramping up enrollment, yet where are all these clinicals going to come from? The AACN (American Association of Colleges in Nursing) should begin to explore this, I think.

Okay, off of soapbox (for now).

Oldiebutgoodie

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But the flip side to this is - I didn't want the instructors telling ME who to work with. The few instances that I had preceptors chosen for me were horrid for me.

This is especially true for my peds CNS clinicals - I knew I didn't want to do entirely peds - just wanted to expand my scope to everyone (I'm already an adult health CNS). Unfortunately, one of my mandatory clinicals was in the hospital where everyone wanted to know when I wanted to start work? Well, since I already have a job that I like, that wasn't an option. After that, I was the very bottom of the food chain.

However, the clinicals I chose: ER and URgent Care were much more to my liking.

But what about the other side. Who is making sure that the preceptors a student sets up are up to snuff. You obviously have your goals in mind, but what prevents someone from taking the easy way out (or setting up a non-productive rotation because they have to have one). Ideally the programs should be required to provide rotations with appropriate high quality rotations (to prevent the problem that you had). If a student wants to set up their own rotations it should be evaluated in the same way that a rotation that is assigned (to make sure its appropriate and high quality). Until there is some kind of standard for clinincals there will continue to be a wide variance in programs.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

Totally agree with you, David. There was huge variation in the quality of clinicals in my program. Fortunately, I was assigned to great preceptors, but others weren't so lucky. There's such a shortage of clinical sites that I think the schools will send students to any willing warm body! I hope to precept when I gain more experience and can give a student the quality experience they need and deserve. Standards would be helpful.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

The clinicals had to be approved by the school - the preceptor had to submit a CV and application. It was all very legit. Plus, you had to have written goal statements much, much paperwork for the poor preceptor to fill out, you had to list out every single pt you saw, what procedures you did, care/assessment and treatment you planned and what the outcome was (if possible).

And...yes there is a shortage of preceptors. We had varied clinical experiences:

1. For my adult health CNS: I did urgent care, ER, in-pt intensivist, in-pt hospitalist, community clinic, and nursing home

2. For my peds CNS: I did urgent care, ER, in-pt hospitalist, peds nursing home and peds clinics.

3. Other students did such varied stuff as: volunteer in Haiti on a medical mission, summer camp for diabetic kids, summer camp for CF kids, summer camp for Easter Seals, one went to St Jude's in Memphis, another went to Chicago to the pediatric multi-organ transplant center.

I do agree that there are a wide variety of clinical experiences and that students shouldn't have free rein but by allowing a student to choose their own clinicals, you provide them with the education they want.

I guess I should throw this out there too: in both programs, we were all very experienced nurses who knew the ropes - we knew what we wanted out of our education.

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The clinicals had to be approved by the school - the preceptor had to submit a CV and application. It was all very legit. Plus, you had to have written goal statements much, much paperwork for the poor preceptor to fill out, you had to list out every single pt you saw, what procedures you did, care/assessment and treatment you planned and what the outcome was (if possible).

And...yes there is a shortage of preceptors. We had varied clinical experiences:

1. For my adult health CNS: I did urgent care, ER, in-pt intensivist, in-pt hospitalist, community clinic, and nursing home

2. For my peds CNS: I did urgent care, ER, in-pt hospitalist, peds nursing home and peds clinics.

3. Other students did such varied stuff as: volunteer in Haiti on a medical mission, summer camp for diabetic kids, summer camp for CF kids, summer camp for Easter Seals, one went to St Jude's in Memphis, another went to Chicago to the pediatric multi-organ transplant center.

I do agree that there are a wide variety of clinical experiences and that students shouldn't have free rein but by allowing a student to choose their own clinicals, you provide them with the education they want.

I guess I should throw this out there too: in both programs, we were all very experienced nurses who knew the ropes - we knew what we wanted out of our education.

I guess my concern would be making sure that students are exposed to what they need in the clinicals. My N is small but I've precepted 6 NP students and 4 PA students over the last three years. The PA students have been from four different programs, but it all works the same. The program or the studenty contacts me. I send them my CV and other information on the practice (types of patients, age breakdown, conditions seen etc). They get back to me with what the students needs are. I've had one student turned down because the program said he had two much inpatient experience and needed outpatient time (we hooked him up with one of the NPs that was doing primarily outpatient). 2-3 months before the student arrives I get information on the student including what the clinical advisors think that they need to work on. We then develop learning objectives for the rotation. For required rotations these are already developed but since rotations with me are elective I have to work with the coordinators to develop objectives (although I usually recycle them from other students and tailor them to the weaknesses). At the end of the rotation I have to do a detailed analysis of the student with strengths and weaknesses. They usually send my the Typhon logs to verify also.

For NPs its all over the place. For two programs that I work with its very similar to the PA process. Contact the school, information on the patients etc. For other programs its much less. I had one student ask me if they could do a rotation and the next thing I knew, they showed up. I asked if they had learning objectives- no. Specific thing they wanted to do - no. They just needed their hours logged. This has been my experience with the other half of the programs. The students are simply there to log their hours. My evaluation for these students consists of signing the log sheet. Nothing else. As a result I've become selective about which programs I will work with. If the program can't tell me what the learning objectives are (or work with me to develop them) then I have no interest. Add to that a blanket prohibition on MEPN students and I only work with 2-3 programs that I think do a good job.

The problem that I see is that among NP programs there is a dichotomhy. Some programs care about the product of the student they produce and some don't. For an employer its hard to tell the difference. Without true standards you get the situation you had in Texas where two students with the same degree had vastly different clinical qualifications. It also allows less scrupulous schools to dilute the brand as it were by turning out less than prepared students.

David Carpenter, PA-C

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Very good points David. I've now been out of school for 4.5 years and I precept students from my school and have had varied experiences - not with the school but rather the student's wishes/desires.

I still like the idea of setting up my own clinicals to reflect what I want and also to get out of my comfort zone. However, I do realize (and have experienced) students who just want their logs and paperwork signed off.

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Hello, I found your message on the board. I'm wondering if you are interested in precepting me for Advanced assessment class next semester which needs 75hours of clinical. I go to SLU for FNP and about to have my first clinical class but I cannot find my preceptor. I'm still desparately looking for one, and I really appreciate if you could let me know. I live in the city, and I'm sure I can drive to your clinic. Thank you so much!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I don't precept any more because work is just too busy - the preceptees aren't getting a good experience.

However, though my husband lives in the 618 area code, I live and work in the 309 area code.

I would contact the IL Society of Advanced Practice Nurses - they might be able to point you in the right direction.

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