Date of Graduation

Summer 8-12-2022

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

College/School

School of Nursing and Health Professions

Program

Kaiser cohort MSN capstone

First Advisor

David Ainsworth

Abstract

Problem: Staff being unfamiliar with the role of being a preceptor impacts their ability to perform the job well. Insufficient understanding of a new role creates stress and uncertainty which can lead to poor employee retention or high job dissatisfaction.

Context: The setting for this project is a large hospital-based home health agency that has an average daily census of 375 patients. The project was a collaboration between home health management and the quality department.

Measures: A measurement strategy was developed to meet the outcome measure, process measure, and balancing measure. The outcome measure was increasing the nurses’ understanding of the roles and responsibilities of being a preceptor. The process measures were the percentage of clinicians that attend the workshop and the preceptor training. The balancing measure was to receive negative feedback from staff that the training was not helpful. This was measured by feedback elicited from the surveys.

Results: Prior to this project, there was not a formal program that outlined the requirements and expectations of being a preceptor. The post survey results showed an improvement from 7.6 to 8.5 on a 10-point scale. The post-survey results showed improvement in the knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of being a preceptor.

Conclusion: The nurse preceptor role lacked clear definition and required additional training on their responsibilities. Preceptors who are not adequately trained can lead to negative consequences, including high levels of employee turnover and compliance failures. This project demonstrated the need for a comprehensive and structured training program and additional monitoring of the affect preceptor education has on staff. Improving the preceptor education program has the potential to have a significant downstream impact on employee satisfaction, performance, and ultimately improve patient care.

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