[Discrepancies Between Clinical Nurse Preceptor's Self-Assessment and New Nurses' Perceptions of Clinical Teaching...

The teaching competence of clinical nurse preceptors plays a critical role in the adaptation of newly employed nurses to clinical practice and their professional development. Understanding the differences in perceived teaching competence between instructors and newly graduated nurses as well as the factors influencing these differences may help improve teaching quality and learning effectiveness.

This study was designed to explore the differences in perceived clinical instructor teaching ability between new nurses and the clinical instructors themselves and the factors influencing these differences.

This cross-sectional study targeted clinical nurse preceptors and new nurses at a regional teaching hospital in eastern Taiwan. Data were collected using structured questionnaires.

Significant differences between the preceptors and nurses were identified in terms of teaching ability overall scores, subscale scores, and item scores. Notably, the scores given by the new nurses were significantly higher than the self-assessment scores given by the instructors. The results of multiple linear regression analysis identified clinical preceptors' professional commitment (β = .480, p < .001) and new nurses' job satisfaction (β = -.433, p < .001) as independent, significant factors influencing the difference in teaching ability scoring between the two groups, with the model explaining 47.6% of the variance.

The new nurses in this study rated clinical preceptors' teaching competence significantly higher than the preceptors' self-assessments. Preceptor professional commitment and new nurse job satisfaction were identified as significant predictors of the between-group differences in perceived teaching competence scores. Based on the findings, healthcare institutions should work to further cultivate professional commitment among clinical nursing preceptors, provide a supportive teaching environment, and enhance job satisfaction among newly employed nurses to reduce the discrepancy in perceived teaching competence between preceptors and new nurses and improve overall clinical teaching effectiveness.