Developing a collaborative preceptor program involving registered nurses, student nurses and faculty

This paper addresses a collaborative preceptorship program involving a group of undergraduate nursing students, their registered nurse preceptors employed on the paediatric ward of an acute care hospital, and academic staff from a university school of nursing. The project utilised a fourth generation evaluation model, adapted from action research methods, which comprised a series of parallel focussed group discussions with a registered nurse preceptor group and a student nurse group. During the project, members of the two groups explored the issues around the supervision of students in practice in an acute paediatric context. This resulted in the development of innovative approaches to the supervisory practices utilised by preceptors. It also highlighted the benefits of collaboration between universities and hospital staff in developing preceptorship programs which respond appropriately to the needs of both preceptors and students.