Prescribing and Precepting Concept In Nursing Education
What Is Prescribing In Nursing
Precepting is modeling, explaining, and sharing the realities of nursing practice to facilitate the development of knowledge and understanding about nursing practice in others. Precepting is enacted by a working nurse, often referred to as a preceptor. The recipient of precepting is a learner a student in either an undergraduate or graduate program or a new staff member. Precepting is a time defined relationship with externally defined objectives. Precepting encompasses an introduction to a work environment with a focus on individualized teaching, learning.
Supporting, and immersing the person being prescribed to the realities of nursing practice. Precepting provides the bridge between the conceptual and theoretical learning completed in the classroom and clinical laboratory with the actuality of everyday nursing practice in a health care environment. The goals of precepting are to enhance the learner's knowledge and success, and ultimately to improve the quality of patient care provided.
Implementations In Nursing Education
In nursing education, precepting is a model in which nursing students are assigned to experienced nurses to learn about nursing practice and the delivery of patient care. Through guidance, supervision, and role modeling, precepting helps to develop knowledge, clinical skills, and professional attitudes in nursing students. Historically, in undergraduate nursing education, precepting was used in the terminal semester or the capstone experience of the student's curriculum.
However, as models of undergraduate nursing education have evolved to include clinical-academic partnerships, immersion learning, and dedicated education units, precepting is becoming more common throughout nursing practice courses in the curriculum (Dean et al., 2013; Jeffries et al., 2013; Raines, 2009), Precepting in these models gives the student insight into the complexities of the nurse's role in the health care setting. Precepting results in a learning experience that extends beyond the nursing care needs of a single patient to fulfilling the needs of a multi patient assignment and the other responsibilities associated with the professional nurse role.
It provides the “big picture” of the nurses' responsibilities and accountability beyond the completion of tasks or procedures on a single patient. Precepting is also used in the education of advanced practice nurses because of the opportunity to enhance the development of advanced practice skills as well as socialization to the role of the advanced practice nurse. A successful precepting experience includes three phases during each encounter: planning, doing, and evaluating. In the planning phase, the preceptor needs to get to know the learner's learning style and prior experiences.
This may be facilitated by the faculty member before the student arrives in the clinical setting. Prior to beginning each clinical day, the preceptor needs to review the patient care assignment and identify optimal learning opportunities. The last step of the planning phase involves setting goals and priorities for the student to accomplish and activities to be completed by the end of the clinical day. In the doing phase, the preceptor and learner work together in completing patient care and nursing responsibilities.
Allowing the learner to see the nurse in practice and then having the learner perform nursing care activities with the preceptor as a supportive coach is an efficient and effective model of teaching. The last phase involves reflecting on and evaluating the day's accomplishments and providing constructive feedback to the learner.
Importance of Perception In Nursing Education
Precepting is vital to the academic preparation of nursing students (Barker & Pittman, 2010; Carlson, 2013; Omansky, 2010; Raines, 2012). The actions and behaviors of the preceptor's influence and shape the meaning and understanding of the practice of nursing for the learner. The relationship between the preceptor and the learner is key to successful functioning and socialization to the role of nurse. Positive characteristics of a good preceptor from the perspective of the learner include being empathetic, respectful, humorous, fair, flexible, and dependable (Stiffler, Arthur, Stephenson, Ray, & Cullen, 2009).
Precepting is a complex and multifactor activity. A good clinical nurse or a good nurse manager is not always good at prescribing requires strong clinical skills plus an ability to explain complex entities of nursing practice, professional role identity, and strong interpersonal skills. Precepting involves enacting a number of roles simultaneously. Precepting the nurse is acting as a teacher, counselor, role model, coach, protector, socializer, expert, and leader as well as supporting and promoting the growth and development of the learner.
In addition, precepting involves open and ongoing communications and feedback with the person being prescribed and with the faculty member or program director regarding the learner's progress. For a positive outcome, the nurse precepting, the learner, and the faculty member must work in synchrony Preceptors do not replace the faculty member in nursing practice education, but extend and complement the role by applying the theoretical knowledge to the complexities and unpredictability of the practice of nursing.
Precepting focuses on the development of a learner's clinical competence and socialization to the role of professional nurse Quality precepting is preceded by an investment of time and energy in the preparation and education of the nurse preceptor. Learning how to teach others, provide feedback, and balance the dual responsibilities to the student and the patient are critical for their successful precepting Quality preparation for the precepting role results in a more efficient and less stressful experience for everyone.
Many nurses choose to precept because they view it as an enriching and mutually rewarding experience. However, precepting is an added responsibility for the nurses. Recognition of this important role through workload reduction, financial compensation, professional recognition, or other rewards is important. Precepting is often used interchangeably with mentoring, but they are distinct activities. Precepting has a narrow focus on individualized teaching, learning, and supporting in a clinical setting.
Precepting occurs between a nursing student and a registered nurse preceptor or a new staff member and a registered nurse preceptor. Precepting is an educational relationship- ship and takes place in programs that are planned and monitored, are task oriented and focused on the transfer of practical clinical skills, and are time limited. Precepting is an effective way to bridge the theory practice gap and a means of transition to the application of knowledge in a clinical setting, whereas mentoring is focused on supporting, inspiring, and nurturing a colleague and is a voluntary relationship often sought out by the people involved (Yonge Billay, Myrick, & Luhanga, 2007).
Mentoring has no specific agenda or goals to achieve and often evolves into a close relationship with personal and emotional bonds. A mentoring relationship may toughen as participants move to different settings, whereas a precepting relationship is assigned and ends with the achievement of the goals or at a predetermined time frame.
Effects of Precepting and Prescribing In Nursing Education
Precepting is important to the preparation of the next generation of nurses and for integrating new staff into the work activities and responsibilities. Individuals who are given the privilege of developing the future generation of nurses need to be carefully selected, adequately prepared and supported, and compensated for their contributions to the continuing growth and development of professional nurses. As models of collaborative academic clinical partnerships continue to grow, evaluation research on the impact of precepting on learning outcomes as well as insight into the professional development of the preceptor are needed.
Give your opinion if have any.