Precepting the Preceptor

Very well put. I hope the NPH insulin preceptee is doing okay. That kind of thing can shake a new grad pretty badly.I'm not precepting anyone yet, but I'm planning to get started in the next year. I'll keep a link to this article before I get my first new grad.

I start my first job as a brand new RN next week, I hope and pray that I am assigned a preceptor with as much passion and compassion as you!

My boss has asked me to preceptor new nurses. I'm not sure if I'm responsible or patient enough to guide a baby nurse through an ER orientation, but I'll try. You can be darn sure I'll be bringing my questions to allnurses.

You speak so eloquently and expressed exactly what I, as a former preceptor, felt. Thank you. I just don't have anything to add.......very well put!!

I wish I read this a year ago. I was preceptored a year ago in a large teaching hospital and my experience was horrendous. During a night shift I broke down crying from the pressure of my preceptor and her 'friends' that felt I was incompetent. I am a mature student and they were all very young people. My learning style was quite different from her teaching style. I completed my stint in the department, got a job with the institution and still see my preceptor sometimes. I still clam up when I see my former preceptor and become very nervous. I am still trying to overcome the negative things I was told by my preceptor BUT I AM getting there.

I would like to add some advice to the excellent advice given by Ruby Vee. I use "she" in this advice writing, but I think it would be the same for guys. I am female. If some of the advice needs to be adjusted, perhaps someone else can write about that. Act responsibly like you would for a patient. Monitor her, give her help when needed, give her encouragement. You may not be a teacher, but you are a nurse and you know how to care excellently for patients in need. Act toward the new nurse like you would a treasure. Smile, give her thumbs up, do anything to show her you are proud of her. Find things to be proud of, even if it is just using the phone to call the doctor from a written script.

I'm a new nurse and begin orienting next week - This thread has me in tears - scared to death to be a nurse. I just hope that the preceptor that was assigned to me has either read this information or already has the right heart for me.

This was a very insightful article. I have been fortunate enough to be hired by a teaching hospital with a program to precept the preceptors, or coaches as they are now referred to. My coach is a great nurse, good teacher and good role model. She has introduced me around and that has made me feel at home on the unit.I have felt rather inept when performing some procedures for the first time after watching the "coach" do them. I blundered through them and kept forgetting the steps. After reading your article, I realize that I am a hands on person. I remember more when I do rather than when I watch. I do like to read about the procedure as well as it locks in my hands on learning.Thanks for sharing your experience.

I recall the saying, "Nurses eat their young". To the newbies, don't allow it. To the preceptors, don't do it! Remember your communication skills, try to diplomatically resolve situations with your preceptor. If that doesn't work, you can always, after some self-examination, request a new preceptor. Gossiping about the experienced nurses will only make things worse. Constructive conversation with your manager is much more effective. I eventually became friends with the nurse who tried to "eat" me. Great technical nurse, not a "people" person. Excellent article.

Love this! I am precepting my first GN and we just finished up our first week together and I hope she has learned half as much from me as I have learned from her in this week.

Quote from jhntshI wish I read this a year ago. I was preceptored a year ago in a large teaching hospital and my experience was horrendous. During a night shift I broke down crying from the pressure of my preceptor and her 'friends' that felt I was incompetent. I am a mature student and they were all very young people. My learning style was quite different from her teaching style. I completed my stint in the department, got a job with the institution and still see my preceptor sometimes. I still clam up when I see my former preceptor and become very nervous. I am still trying to overcome the negative things I was told by my preceptor BUT I AM getting there.

One thing I BEG of preceptors or those appointing preceptors: PUHlease delegate the task of precepting to those who like to teach! My preceptor clearly did not like to teach! She was under the assumption that nurses come out of nursing school fully able to put 20g IVs in dehydrated 90 yr olds , draw blood cultures off of said 90 yr old, and know all protocol/procedures from the get go. I did my best to be kind and engaging for a few weeks. I then stated to her that she needed to TEACH me said things instead of assuming or speaking ill of me because I didn't know how to trouble shoot an IV pump or that a PTT needed to be drawn at x time during a heparing gtt rate change! Preceptors of the world: If you don't like to teach and are in it for the money, beware of the future nurses you are producing!