Expectations
I expect a mentor to be able to guide me in a positive outlook in both my nursing career and the socialization that comes with nursing. Being socialized within the nursing profession can help boost my morale, engagement, and understanding of my new position (Gazaway, Schumacher, & Anderson, 2016). My mentor would encourage me to attend educational workshops and seminars. I expect my mentor to be my role model and counselor in times of stress (Gazaway, Schumacher, & Anderson, 2016). The mentor would act as my personal leader, who is able to guide me through the, at times, trying first year (Finkelman, 2016).
I expect my preceptor to have a slightly different, more clinical intention with training me. I expect my preceptor to educate me on policies, procedures, and guide my through the day in the life of a nurse. I am new and do not know what to expect, so I rely heavily on my preceptor to give me an honest and fair bridging from the newly graduated registered nurse (RN) role to a working RN. I expect my preceptor to be knowledgeable or be able to point me in the right direction if I have questions they cannot answer. They should have had some type of preceptor training and engage me in critical thinking (Schuelke & Barnason, 2017). As an experienced nurse with my bachelors of science in nursing (BSN), I would expect my preceptor and I to develop a specific list of skills needed to excel on the unit and find me every opportunity to practice those skills. I would start out taking possibly more patients than a new nurse, with guidance from my preceptor.
Length of Preceptorship
I would expect to be mentored for my first year, as the first year is typically when we see the largest turnover of nurses (Bonczek, Quinlan-Colwell, Tran, & Wines, 2016). I would expect to be precepted at least three months, but no more than six months, unless necessary (McCusker, 2013). I think this is a realistic expectation because a new nurse cannot be expected to step onto a new unit and know everything about policies, procedures, and certain skills. Nursing school can only prepare me so much for my profession; the real work begins when I start on the floor.
As an experienced BSN, I expect my preceptorship to not be too lengthy. I will need to know the layout of the floor, experience the patient acuity, and experience the new medications and skills I will be performing on the floor. I think I would want to be familiarized with this new area, so no more than four weeks would be sufficient.
Conflicts
If I am not receiving the needed training and information from my preceptor, then I will see if I can correct the problem myself, first. I will attempt to ask the specific questions I am wondering about to see if this elicits a response from my preceptor. If they are still not helpful after asking specific questions, I will need to go to the nurse educator or nurse manager. This is my professional education and entrance into my career, I want to be the best nurse I can. I expect my preceptor to be the best preceptor possible. Speaking with one of the nurse leaders on the unit would, hopefully, end up in a conference between us and my preceptor. We could review a checklist of items that I should have had experienced by now, however have not had the opportunity to because of my preceptor. I would be curious as to why they weren’t training me properly. It may be due to stress on their part or we need to work out a better time management system that would work for us.
If there was a conflict of personality with my mentor or preceptor, I would probably have a difficult time confronting them. When personality clashing comes into play, it can become personal. I would want to speak with the nurse manager of the floor to see if there is something they can do to help correct this problem. I would wonder why my preceptor doesn’t like me. Is it because I am being too slow or don’t know enough, or am I slowing my preceptor down? These are questions I would like to be addressed.
If I had a BSN and I have had years of experience, I would have a different take on the conflict issue. I would wonder if my preceptor felt intimidated, because maybe I had more experience than them. Maybe my preceptor is feeling the stress of having so many preceptees, I know that feeling, and just needs a break. I would like to talk with my preceptor and ask them how they are feeling being my preceptor and reinforce that this is a new unit with new policies and procedures, so I am here to learn and get adjusted to this new unit. If I was not receiving the proper training, I would question my preceptor. I would ask why we weren’t looking up protocols for the new drips I am not used to administering and ask them to take a minute and review them with me, as this may be my first time doing some task or administering medication on the unit.
References
Bonczek, M. E., Quinlan-Colwell, A., Tran, S., & Wines, K. (2016). A holistic approach to improve nursing retention during the first year of employment. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 40(3), 269-275. doi: 10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000178
Finkelman, A. W. (2016). Leadership and management for nurses: Core competencies for quality care (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Gazaway, S. B., Schumacher, A. M., & Anderson, L. (2016). Mentoring to retain newly hired nurses. Nursing Management, 47(8), 9-13. doi: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000488861.77193.78
McCusker, C. (2013). Preceptorship: Professional development and support for newly registered practitioners. Journal of Perioperative Practice, 23(12), 283-287. Retrieved from http://www.afpp.org.uk/
Schuelke, S., & Barnason, S. (2017). Interventions used by nurse preceptors to develop critical thinking of new graduate nurses: A systematic review. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 31(1). doi: 10.1097/NND.0000000000000318
