Need NP preceptor

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Hi Everyone! I am currently attending WCU MSN-FNP. I am doing the Primary Care Adult and Geriatric right now. I was able to secure a clinic months ago but was told that we are not clear for clinical so I didn't go last week but then I guess that was only a misunderstanding. Making it short, I can't do my clinical now at that clinic.

With the pandemic that we are currently experiencing, every time I inquire, there are not accepting students at this time. So not sure how to complete mine.. School gave me a list to call but no one is responding or if there is, their clinic is closed as most of them are doing tele health.

Any suggestions would help.. or if you know someone, let me know!

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

Your school needs to be doing more than just providing a list of places to call. Part of the national accreditation standards for programs is that they MUST provide clinical placements - students may have input - but the burden of placement should not fall on students. In light of the pandemic and number of clinical sites which are closed to students - your school needs to be working with students to come up with alternate means of meeting study requirements be it through telehealth, online simulation/learning, or rearranging curriculum to front load didactic while everything is shut down and allowing clinicals to take place at a later date.

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1 hour ago, verene said:

Part of the national accreditation standards for programs is that they MUST provide clinical placements - students may have input - but the burden of placement should not fall on students.

This is a gross misunderstanding of the standards.

Unfortunately, it's not likely you're going to be able to complete your clinicals on your pre-COVID timeframe. In the best of times, clinical sites for NP programs can be extremely difficult to come by. During this crisis, it will be next to impossible. I know that's not what you want to hear but as you already know, cold calling isn't likely to get you anywhere are networking is really off the table now.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

Right now it's a tough time. Keep your eyes open and also ask whether you can use tele-medicine to fulfill your hours (I believe it's acceptable). Join a local NP association and/or AGPCNP forum, and post on there (anonymous sites like this one is probably the least effective place to find a preceptor).

Your school should be providing help in various ways. Once clinics open up, document your efforts in locating preceptors. If you cannot find anyone, bring it up with your school. Your school ultimately is responsible for securing clinical site if you cannot. If your school cannot fulfill that requirement, file a complaint with CCNE and the parent university. You might have to consider requesting refunds and going to another program, one that secures preceptors.

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I just recently read about the Sawyer Initiative. From what I understand, starting from last year the CCNE requires all NPs programs to provide clinical preceptor placement. If your school doesn't help you out, I suggest you reach out to the CCNE and let them know. Hope this helps.

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Specializes in NICU.

^^ WOW!!, fascinating. I hope students hold schools accountable! This might make schools increase their standards of who they let in if they can only secure a preceptor for a certain amount of people which would help the profession.

I wonder how long it will take for the knock on effect to take place as in another thread I read here on AN, some schools don't believe in it. Will take time for the teeth to sink through- how long I wonder...

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6 hours ago, db2xs said:

I just recently read about the Sawyer Initiative. From what I understand, starting from last year the CCNE requires all NPs programs to provide clinical preceptor placement. If your school doesn't help you out, I suggest you reach out to the CCNE and let them know. Hope this helps.

The language is a bit open .. but the requirement that a program MUST secure placement for all students seems to prevail.

But I can't help but think -- a student that lives in Kansas enrolls in the Chamberlain online program.. Chamberlain assigns this student 300 clinical hours at a facility in rural Utah. I wonder what this student will do ....

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Specializes in NICU.
On 5/17/2020 at 6:14 PM, 203bravo said:

The language is a bit open .. but the requirement that a program MUST secure placement for all students seems to prevail.

But I can't help but think -- a student that lives in Kansas enrolls in the Chamberlain online program.. Chamberlain assigns this student 300 clinical hours at a facility in rural Utah. I wonder what this student will do ....

Then they would need to go to Utah. It’s better than not having a clinical placement and spending lots of money towards classes that are now useless without a degree...

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On 5/17/2020 at 9:14 PM, 203bravo said:

The language is a bit open .. but the requirement that a program MUST secure placement for all students seems to prevail.

Unfortunately, this isn't true at all. In fact, the language "requiring that a program MUST secure placement for all students" is unchanged from the previous version of the accreditation standards and we all know that was never intended or construed to require schools to arrange specific clinical placements for all student. What it actually means is that your degree program MUST require clinical experience as part of the program but not that it is their responsibility to make the arrangements. In fact, the next sentence in the standards was changed which could make NP programs drastically less rigorous (it changed from "Clinical practice experiences involve activities that are designed to ensure students are competent to enter nursing practice at the level indicated by the degree/certificate program." in 2013 to "Clinical practice experiences align with student and program outcomes." in 2018). While you certainly can file a complaint with CCNE, it is not likely to make any difference when your complaint is based on a misunderstanding of the accreditation standards. I know there has been some widespread disagreement but I would suggest that when the CCNE updated the standards and had the opportunity to change the language if they desired, they specifically choose not to.

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Online schools guaranteeing clinical placement will never happen. How is a online school in Vermont going to have any pull for a NP student in LA? Local schools are ALWAYS going to take priority and that tiny Vermont school has 0 presence.

Its laughable that people think the CCNE is going to do anything about this. As long as online schools keep accepting anyone with a pulse, standards will never change. $$$$

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