Preceptor Needed

Hey Jill,

You are in for the biggest roller coaster ride of your life.

When a school does not provide students with a viable way to obtain preceptors it just reminds me of how nursing leadership/accreditation has substantively and historically dropped the ball when it comes to NP education and protecting students from bad actors.

I'm assuming you will need several more preceptors after this one you're having difficulty obtaining. You know and so does your school that you are in stiff competition from other NP schools, PA schools and medical schools for the relativly few providers available that are willing to teach you for free. This does not make for a level playing field for you. Some schools do have contractual relationships with the provider community. So how are you supposed to compete? Especially for peds and ob/gyn preceptorships. My only suggestion, and it's a lame one, is contact your local NP association and network one of their gatherings. Go hat-in-hand to as many practices as you can and plead.

Know this is a terrible situation these NP schools put many students through but this is why students need to ask about these things up front because by the time you get to the clinical portion of the program it's often too late. They have your money and time and so a tremendous amount of good students are left in overwhelming debt without a degree saying I did nothing wrong; did the work, respected my instructors, attended all classes and paid the required tuition. All in vain.

The caveat here is to require any school that accepts tuition, which most do, to put the preceptorship problem to rest and provide access to preceptors that want to work with students; and have them put it in writing at that.

And stay away from the for-profits as they are the worst offenders.