Evaluating a Program for Preparing Nurse Practitioner Preceptors/Mentors

This project evaluates a program to better prepare nurse practitioners (NPs) to serve as preceptors/mentors. Currently, many NPs informally precept/mentor NP students without having formalized preparation for the educational role. A training program for NP preceptors/mentors was developed to enhance the NP's knowledge of the 6 common qualities shown to enhance preceptor effectiveness. The design was a pre- and postintervention survey and was analyzed using a paired t test. Fifteen NPs who were employed at a Level 1 trauma center and 3 NPs from outside primary care practices participated in the project. Each participant completed a pretest, an educational session, posttest, and an evaluation survey. All participants had increased knowledge about the 6 preceptor qualities at the completion of the session, p = .001.