Attempts to establish initial contact with assigned practicum preceptor unsuccessful

[MJane29]

I am looking for some guidance and am hoping that there is someone out there who has experienced a similar situation. I was recently assigned a preceptor for my leadership practicum experience on a floor perfectly matched to my future specialty. I was beyond ecstatic (quite literally jumping with joy) when I discovered that I had been assigned to my first choice of unit for the practicum. I attempted to make initial contact with my assigned preceptor last Monday, as we were instructed by our course clinical faculty member to contact our preceptors on the same day that we received our unit assignments. We were also told to send a follow-up email if we did not hear back by Thursday of last week. I did not hear back by Thursday, so I sent a follow-up email, as instructed. I also wrote to my clinical faculty member on Friday to inform her of my failed attempts, and she stated that she would try to reach my preceptor to remind her of the summer semester time constraint. It is now Saturday evening, and I have yet to hear back from my assigned preceptor.

Now, I will certainly admit to being a bit neurotic at times but feel that the considerable amount of anxiety that I am experiencing regarding this situation is somewhat warranted. Especially since we are required to complete 82 leadership practicum hours and must find a way to schedule these hours around our 90-hour adults II clinical and two other regularly scheduled classes (leadership and adults II in-class lectures) that meet for approximately 12 hours total per week. Granted, it has only been six days since I sent the first email, so it is certainly possible that my concern is a bit premature. It's just that all of my peers in my clinical group have already successfully established contact with their assigned preceptors and have either begun their practicums, or are due to start early next week.

I am so eager to start practicum and firmly believe that it is a privilege to have been granted the opportunity to shadow/work with this particular preceptor in my specialty area. I have been looking forward to the experience, but suppose that I am curious as to whether what I am encountering in regards to communication is typical, or if it is more of a rare occurrence. If you have indeed experienced something similar, how did you go about handling it? It may be worth noting that I completed a clinical rotation on my assigned preceptors unit in the fall of 2015. Despite having never met her in person, I already have a great deal respect for her, as many of her co-workers spoke very highly of her while I was on the unit. I certainly do not want to be a bother and the last thing that I want to do is make a bad first impression. Any input, suggestions, or advice that you can offer would be very much appreciated.

[MJane29]

I should add that a former student did inform me that she did not hear from her preceptor for about two weeks. However, in her case the reason for the delay involved a system wide email related issue.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

It's a holiday weekend. Hang on at least until Tuesday. Keep in touch with your instructor if you don't hear back on Tuesday. If for some reason there was an unforeseen issue with the assigned preceptor your instructor will facilitate reassignment.

Hurry up and wait is very difficult. Try and enjoy the weekend. Hopefully it's a simple issue like the preceptor is off for the holiday.

[MJane29]

Thank you JustBeachyNurse, I needed that. :)

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

Maybe they went on vacation prior to precepting you. Since they can't go over the summer, they went ahead of time. There could be a thousand reasons.

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

Congrats on getting your top choice! I can understand why you're concerned if all of your peers have already established contact and starting clinical already. You've done what's expected from you and there's really nothing much more you can do other than wait. She's agree to precept you so there shouldn't be an issue.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I'm going to make a radical suggestion here. CALL HIM/HER. On the phone. With your voice instead of relying on electronic communication.

[MJane29]

Hey meanmaryjean,

I don't think that your suggestion is at all radical. It is the next step that I will take if I have not heard anything come Wednesday. I am probably dating myself by saying this, but my preference would have been to opt initally for a phone call over electronic communication, as I feel that it is much more personal in nature and often a more efficient means of communication. In addition to email addresses, we were given the main hospital phone number with our preceptor's extension. However, our clinical course faculty primarily focused on and recommended starting with email. Little emphasis was placed on the phone number, and it was mentioned only after the suggested timeline for sending initial emails and follow up emails was discussed. Nonetheless, thank you for taking the time to respond. Suggestion duly noted. :)

[CiaMia, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

I was fearing the worst right before I started my 160-hr capstone/final semester preceptorship. No answer to emails, and I tried a few times too. Turned out that 1- it was an alternative email address she didn't often use and 2- she was getting married and going on her honeymoon the week before we started...! I'm sure it'll work out!

(ETA - managed the make the precepted hours and now work on that unit as a new grad! )