Graduate Clinical Nurse Preceptors: Implications for Improved Intra-Professional Collaboration

Advanced practice nurses have increased in number and public acceptance. Students preparing for these roles require quality clinical education so they are prepared to assume collaborative roles in healthcare settings. Although graduate clinical preceptors have a vitally important role in the clinical education and professional socialization of advanced practice students, there is a paucity of evidence about factors that influence their role commitment. In this article, the authors review the literature related to graduate-level, clinical-preceptor experiences; describe their study of 91 graduate clinical preceptors that identified factors influencing graduate clinical preceptors' role commitment; report and discuss their findings; as well as the limitations of this study. They conclude that the graduate clinical preceptor role needs to be more visible and better integrated into schools of nursing and healthcare organizational structures, and identify the need for intra-professional collaboration among nursing faculty, administrators, and clinicians to facilitate the recruitment, cultivation, and retention of graduate clinical preceptors.