Preceptorial students' view of their clinical experience

A preceptorial is a one-on-one reality-based clinical experience in which the staff nurse supervises the learning experience. Many schools of nursing use preceptor clinicals for the last clinical experience, but no studies were found that examined how students viewed that experience. This qualitative study was undertaken to ascertain how undergraduate preceptorial students view their clinical experience. In addition, since the program studied also uses preceptorials for its students' first clinical experience, the study examined differences in perception about the preceptorial between first- and second-level students. The students were asked to complete an anonymous open-ended questionnaire about their clinical experience. Content analysis was performed on the answers using the whole response to the question as the unit of analysis. Indicators of reliability and validity were established. Two themes emerged from the analysis: what students desire from their clinical experience and the factors that influence the preceptorial clinical experience. In addition, differences were found between perceptions of students in the first and last preceptorial clinical experiences. The results were discussed in terms of clinical experiences and possible differences in perception of clinical between those who have preceptorial and traditional faculty-led clinical experiences.