Tips for Precepting

[purplegoose]

Hello all, I am new to the forums and I need a little advice. I have been a night shift labor and delivery nurse for about 2 years now and I have been asked to be a preceptor to a new nurse (experienced nurse but new to L & D). I have never been a preceptor before and I want to do a good job so any help and advice that you gals can give would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

Kate

[ShannonB25]

Hi! Just wanted to add real briefly that as someone who's being precepted presently, be sure to get a good baseline assessment of your preceptee's skills level initially so you're not wasting any time going over things that she may already know. ALso, be sure to jump in and get your hands dirty right alongside the person you're precepting- it's reassuring, trust me. By no means would I encourage doing everything for the person, but when you're new to an area and you're feeling overwhelmed, sometimes just having your preceptor say kindly "here, I'll go get that for you" is such a relief!

I'm tired and those are the first things that popped in my mind, so hope they help a bit! I"m sure you'll get great advice here though- I know I always do!

Good luck!!!!

[SmilingBluEyes]

Well said Shannon. Just be available and a resource. Instead of giving all the answers, show the preceptee where he/she can find them on their own. Make sure you are very well-versed on policy and procedure yourself and up on how things should be done. Check your own habits; if you have some bad ones, might want to re-examine them and be sure you teach the "right" way to do things.

Good luck!