Nurse Preceptorship Model

Towards an Effective Mater Dei Hospital Preceptorship Framework for the Novice Nurse: A Proposal.

INTRODUCTION

It has been acknowledged that the move from an apprenticeship model of learning to a tertiary education one, may result in the graduate nurse being less prepared for the realities of the awaiting clinical context (Whitehead et al 2013). Within this context, the United Kingdom nursing regulatory body, advised on the need for a period of preceptorship that should be undertaken during the first year post qualification. The shift from an apprentice based education model, towards the end of the last century, to an academically recognised one, seemed to have achieved its objective, whilst diminishing opportunities for practical skills

Whilst there is broad agreement across the oceans as to the need for support during this sensitive stage in learning, the physical context seems to give a diverse nomenclature to the period. While the first months of the neophyte nurse amongst British nursing circles, is termed as preceptorship, their counterparts across the ocean, namely Americans, Australians and Canadians, tend to use both preceptorship and mentorship interchangeably (Bain 1996; Delaney 2003; Beecroft 2007; Morrow 2009). Hence this learning notional continuum seems to have quite a broad sharing; only it is referred to

The observation/reflection model projected by Kolb (1995) may but, retain one within an individualised cocoon, hence a needed shift from a ‘problem solving’ to a ‘problem setting’ scenario (Schon 1992) is needed. This will inversely portray one within an organisational frame of thinking, where the awareness that, there is a lack of fit between what is being delivered to what the patient essentially needs, is realised and established (Wilson – Barnett et al