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Nurse Preceptor Program
Beaufort Memorial Hospital Goes The Extra Step for Nurses; Patients
In 2001, Beaufort Memorial Hospital began a program aimed at keeping its good nurses.
The nurse preceptor program, which originated in BMH’s Education Department, is a 12-week orientation program for new graduate nurses. During the orientation, each new nurse is paired with a skilled nurse, who serves as a preceptor. Among the program’s goals is employee retention. Clinical instructor Joy Rivers, RN, said the program is successful—96 percent of new graduate nurses who were hired in 2004 were retained.
During the orientation program, weekly evaluation meetings are held between the clinical instructors, the preceptor, the department director and the new nurse to ensure that professional goals and objectives are being met. Experienced nurses coming from other hospitals usually take 6 to 8 weeks of orientation to complete the program, and acquaint them with BMH’s policies and procedures, Rivers said.
The preceptors go through the orientation program with the new nurses. Before orientation begins, the preceptor completes a Teaching Style Self Assessment Tool, which illustrates his or her teaching style. The orientee completes a Learning Style Self Assessment Tool, which illustrates his or her learning style, as well as an Orientee Background sheet.
Preceptors and orientees meet before the new nurse’s first day on the unit to review each other’s learning and teaching styles.
BMH is the only area hospital with such an extensive nurse preceptor program, Rivers said. In 2004, 85 clinical staff members were chosen to be preceptors. Department directors recommend staff members, and look for qualities that include leadership, good clinical skills and good customer service skills, clinical instructor Melanie Williams, RN, said.
Cristina Welborn, RN, works in the medical/surgical unit at BMH. She began as a nurse intern in 2003, while attending the Technical College of the Lowcountry. After graduating in 2004, she went to work for BMH as a registered nurse.
“It’s a very good program, “ Welborn said. “You learn the technical aspects in school, but the clinical experience is different.” In nursing school, clinical rotations are six-hour shifts with two patients, she said, unlike BMH, where it is a 12-hour shift with numerous patients.
Under the nurse preceptor program, new nurses are given one patient to care for the first week, and two patients the second week. “The preceptor program slowly introduces you to being a floor nurse,” Welborn said. During the 12-week orientation, the new nurse’s patient load slowly increases, until they are handling a normal work load. In the first week, the preceptor handles the patients, and spends time teaching and talking to the orientee, and provides critical thinking situations.
As the weeks pass, the new nurse assumes more patient responsibility, and the preceptor becomes more of a resource, continuing to provide critical thinking situations.
The new nurses are accompanied by their preceptors. “You can’t remember everything you learned in school, so your preceptor is there to help refresh your memory,” Welborn said.
