Precepting a role transition student

sweet_77 · Jan 1, 2011

Assigning patient to student required close observation , atlest for week then gardusally you give them to do routine works, vitals, assissting others then when you feel them are ready to handle patient give thim one at time then increased to 2 or more. Ofcourse your responsible for thier action , so you need to follow them.

GHGoonette, BSN, RN · Jan 1, 2011

I usually work as a primary preceptor on my unit for new nurses. For the first time I have been assigned a BSN role transition student that has finished all of her lectures, but has to complete clinical experience with me for one month. Her instructor will be visiting on a weekly basis.
How different will my role be with the role transition student vs precepting a new graduate nurse? Can I assign patients to the student? Any help is appreciated.

Been years and years since I precepted students, and that was specifically nurses upgrading either from ENA (approximate CNA) to EN (LPN), or EN to RN. And that was exclusively PACU.

I used to allocate patients to them, stand with them and guide them through the entire recovery process, from reception to discharge. If I'm reading your post correctly, this is a nurse in the same situation, ie "bridging" to a higher level. If this is so, I would suggest assign a patient to her and assess her abilities before making any decisions regarding her further preceptorship.

Miller86 · Jan 1, 2011

When I had a preceptor in my final clinical rotation this is how it went:

I gave a list of things I can and cannot do as a student (outline by my programs policy for students) to her as a guideline. The first day was shadow day where I basically followed her around and got to see how she does things. The following day, I started with one patient and she watched all my assessments, medications etc and then I picked up more patients as the days went on to the full load.

So it depends on the preceptor and student's comfort level but it was expected of us to independently handle 4-5 patients by the end of our clinical hours.

Best thing to do is just ask her how she wants things done. Maybe e-mail or call her to come up to the unit prior to her starting and you can have a little meeting to discuss what she expects or wants out of this learning experience.

You seem like you enjoy being a preceptor! That's really lovely.

regularRN · Jan 1, 2011

As Miller86 described; BUT because the student has not yet graduated and does not have a license (e.g., passed the NCLEX to become an RN) you are ultimately still responsible for his/her assignment.

JaneyW · Jan 1, 2011

The student's school should have definite guidelines that either the student or the instructor will give you. If you have the instructor's contact info, I would contact them and address your questions to them so everyone is on the same page. That will make it easier for you. Thank you for being willing to precept and for approaching it with a good attitude!

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Jan 1, 2011

Thank you all for the responses. They have helped me recognize many things I was not aware of.

Rnis, BSN, DNP, APRN, NP · Jan 1, 2011

I was in a similar program and by the end I took all of the pts. the nurse looked over my shoulder when she felt it was necessary and double checked by charting but for the most part i was on my own. My last rotation was in a pacu so i would have up to four pts in recovery (vitals Q 15 minutes ect) she always sat in my first time doing discharge instructions on a procedure and always went over my instructions before i went in there to given them to make sure i had altered them correctly (dept or specific dr policy was different somtimes than the computer printouts ) .

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jan 2, 2011

I recommend you look at your state's NPA. For instance, in my state the supervising RN must actually SEE (be a witness) to what the student does and cannot co-sign anything unless the task was seen. Sorta like co-signing for drug waste. So don't send the student down the hall to do something then chart it was done.