Preceptorship
Supporting newly qualified nurses and nursing associates through our preceptorship program.
We recognise that the transition from being a newly qualified practitioner to becoming an experienced member of the multi-disciplinary team can be an exciting and challenging experience.
Therefore, we have developed a highly regarded, confidence building preceptorship programme to support you as you start your career.
Preceptorship is a short-term relationship between a newly qualified member of staff (the preceptee) and an experienced, qualified nurse as the preceptor.
We have designed our programme for newly registered mental health or learning disability nurses and nursing associates providing patient care within a clinical setting.
Every newly qualified nurse at our Trust is assigned a preceptor who will be an experienced and knowledgeable practitioner of the same discipline. The preceptor’s role is to guide you and offer professional and personal support throughout your preceptorship. They will also support your learning and development.
Benefits
The aims of our preceptorship programme are to:
- Give you a good start and ensure you’re appropriately inducted into the working environment
- Develop your confidence as an independent practitioner
- Increase your job satisfaction, leading to improved patient satisfaction
- Invest in your future and your career aspirations
- Give you a sense of commitment to your patients, colleagues and the Trust
- Develop your understanding of working within the nursing profession and the requirements of regulators, and
- Develop your personal responsibility for maintaining up to date knowledge.
What’s expected of me?
This framework is based on an extension and expansion of the skills and competencies required of final year students as they move into the role of a new graduate nurse. You will be expected to achieve all the required competencies and objectives within 12 months.
Over the preceptorship period, you’ll be expected to demonstrate the ability to work independently, providing competent direct care to patients. Your preceptor and their clinical team will provide support, learning and development opportunities to ensure you can meet the objectives.
In addition to clinical competencies, additional assessment methods aim to bring together the preceptorship process and demonstrate that we’ve supported your learning. All elements of the preceptorship process must be completed before the preceptor and team manager final sign off.
Hafsa Sattar (pictured) is a Staff Nurse at the Newsam Centre. You can read about her experience with our preceptorship programme.
What you’ll cover
| The core objectives during the preceptorship are: | |
| Assessment | Skills and knowledge development |
| Formulation of a care plan | Record keeping |
| Involving patients and carers | Medicines management |
| The care programme approach | Leadership |
| Each month preceptees attend a half-day skills-based workshop, covering the following topics: | |
| Difficult conversations* | Community working |
| Medication management | Illicit substance misuse* |
| Professional conduct | Physical health* |
| Prioritisation and delegation | Care programme approach training* |
| Report writing | |
* These are joint workshops delivered with allied health professional preceptees.
Receiving support from your peers is invaluable during the transition from newly qualified to an experienced nurse. Therefore you will also attend facilitated half day action learning sets. These sessions will also include presentations from fellow preceptees as well as other key professionals within the Trust such as our Local Security Manager, our Patient Advice and Liaison Service Manager etc.