Nurse Practitioner Preceptor Guidelines 

The Nurse Practitioner curriculum at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing prepares advanced practice nurses to deliver quality health care to individuals across the life span. Focus areas include Women's Health, Adult, Family, Mental Health, Acute Care, and Pediatrics.

Expertise acquired through education and clinical practice allows nurse practitioners to perform physical assessments, diagnose and manage acute and chronic illnesses, provide health promotion interventions, and make referrals to appropriate community resources.

The number of hours each student spends per week with his or her preceptor will vary with each clinical course. Mutually acceptable times should be determined by the student and the preceptor.

The student is expected to share the course syllabus with you. The course syllabus provides a description of the course as well as specific learning objectives, didactic topics, and other course requirements.

 92 clinical hours/ fall and spring semesters

240 clinical hours/ fall and spring semesters

• Selects patients and provides learning experiences appropriate to clinical objectives.
• Observes student directly and provides constructive feedback.
• Is available for consultation and review of patient history, physical exam and laboratory findings, diagnoses, and plan of treatment.
• Provides frequent feedback concerning student's clinical progress, discussing both strengths and weaknesses.
• Plans with student for additional experiences.
• Validates student's progress through written evaluations.
• Shares evaluations with student and USC faculty.

• Obtain comprehensive health histories.
• Conduct physical examinations.
• Present findings clearly and concisely.
• Order and interpret screening and diagnostic laboratory tests.
• Identify, evaluate, and manage common acute conditions and stable chronic conditions.
• Co-manage patients with complex health problems.
• Determine health knowledge and practice to identify risk factors.
• Evaluate emotional and social well-being.
• Identify primary health care needs within the context of the sociocultural environment.
• Develop health education and health promotion interventions.
• Recognize the influences of cultural diversity in health care.
• Collaborate with other health care professionals and make appropriate referrals.
• Document findings in an organized, thorough manner.
• Evaluate precepted experience.

For the preceptor, planning is essential to a successful program. The provider needs to assess his/her interest and ability to take the time to teach and serve as a role model for the student. Weighing other clinical circumstances, such as patient load, space limitations, and time commitments to other students, institutions or staff goes far toward insuring a mutually beneficial experience by minimizing disruptions to the clinic routine and facilitating completion of student projects. Involving the staff in planning for the student's preceptorship has proved a good way to integrate the student into staff schedules and ongoing program activities.

During the first week, the student and preceptor should jointly establish the student's preceptorship objectives. This activity often clarifies the expectations of both parties. The contracting provides the opportunity for the student and preceptor to discuss, negotiate, and outline explicit learning objectives as a means of structuring both the student's experience and the evaluation of his/her progress. The level of academic knowledge and clinical skill must be established especially with pre-clinical students who are often eager for as much clinical practice as possible.

Preceptors and students have indicated that having the student work alongside other health care team members is extremely productive. This activity not only reinforces the team concept of practice, but also offers frequent opportunities for the preceptor to engage in thoughtful exchanges with the student.

Teaching strategies reported to be helpful in integrating students into the practice setting include use of questioning techniques to determine the student's ability to recall important information and his/her ability to apply this information to real and simulated patient situations. Students can then be asked to transfer their knowledge acquired in patient care situations to solve hypothetical problems which may occur in the future.

The preceptor can also provide the student with the information necessary for optimal patient care through short intensive discussion or through more traditional modes, such as readings, references, or graphic materials. Most importantly, the student must develop an accurate efficient problem-solving approach. A helpful strategy is preceptors "thinking out loud" to provide a working model for solving diagnostic and management problems. Likewise, an occasional, "I don't know," may promote an atmosphere in which the student feels free to respond with equal honesty.

The student should be encouraged to ask questions and to share information, and more importantly, to discuss problem-solving skills. All students need to experience success and to receive feedback, whether positive or negative, about their activities. Preceptors are urged not to "shoot down" students who give wrong or unexpected answers. Feedback should consist of statements of what the student did, how what he did affected the preceptor and a judgment by the preceptor of the appropriateness or helpfulness of the student's action. Feedback messages should be specific, descriptive, and data based.

To provide a sense of closure to the preceptorship, the preceptor and student are encouraged to review the major clinical and non-clinical components discussed during the preceptorship. Reviewing the learning contract provides a mechanism to evaluate obtainment of learning objectives. This review should also help insure that the student has had all of his/her questions answered. Lastly, the preceptor might reiterate any recommendations for study that had been suggested to the student earlier.

For information to provide assistance in obtaining a preceptor, click below: 
SC Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC)