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The reason that I’ve chosen to speak on his topic is the result of a particular nurse on the Cardiovascular Surgery Unit (B) during my placement at the Toronto General Hospital (TIGHT). As I entered TIGHT on Sunday May 26th, was aware that my designated preceptor would not be facilitating my learning on this particular shift. This was the result of her assignment as the charge nurse on the unit. As the charge nurse, her presence was continuously required at the nursing station as she could not be at the bedside.
My preceptor had then indicated to me that would be working with a more senior nurse on the unit. When I met this nurse: she ratted me with a smile, introduced her name and credentials, and told me a little bit about her professional background. The first topic of discussion that I had with her was her familiarity with the Scholar Practitioner Program (S. P. P); she mentioned briefly hearing about it. As a result of this I gave her a debriefing of the S. P. , told her how the students learnt, mentioned my learning objectives, and gave her a little description of my own educational background. What struck me by surprise was how she received this new program. Unlike some of the preceptors that I’ve heard about from my co earners, she was positive and willing to work with me to build a nursing foundation. This made me feel even more willing to be on the unit and to embrace my learning. Furthermore, she had given me a re-introduction to the unit and mentioned the various kinds of clients that came to the unit for medical services.
Before we started dealing with patients, I grasped her philosophy as she disclosed what she valued in providing nursing care. Furthermore, she asked me what valued when receiving/giving care; Was happy to tell her. The fact that she was able to validate my input, gave me the confidence to know that I was on the right track. Moreover, she asked me to reiterate my learning goals before we started to work with the clients. As I did this, it helped her to keep them in mind. As a result, she was able to reveal key information to me that was directly applicable to my learning objectives.
I saw that she had a passion not only to work as a nurse but to teach as well; this was more than visible in her behavior. The way in which she engaged in her work and went about teaching me, genuinely made me more interested in the concepts of the cardiovascular system and surgery. As I reflected on this event, I could see how influential this nurse was on me and how it shaped y views and interests particularly during this shift. This experience with the senior nurse helped me to envision the type of characteristics that I would like to emulate when working.
Some of characteristics include being compassionate, passionate, genuine, empathetic, attentive, having a positive attitude, and asking for people’s input when appropriate. These were some of the qualities that stood out to me. Upon observing this nurse in the clinical field, I feel like I have seen a glimpse of how I envision myself to be in the future while nursing. Believe that preceptors have the power to shape a dent’s beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors just by being a good role model.
Many of us came into nursing having our own fixed ideas about it yet with the exposure and time that we get in our clinical, our perceptions of nursing began to change. They either changed for the better or worse and a large part of that is due to our preceptor-student experience. Analysis The key issue that will be elaborated is the power preceptors have to shape the experience and interests of a nursing student in the clinical field. Be it a positive experience or a negative experience, preceptors have control over whether the student has a worthwhile and satisfactory placement.
The way in which preceptors teach will also influence a student’s interests for the future. In the works of Olive Young (2007) it is mentioned that the relationship between a student and the preceptor has the greatest power to influence the student while they gain their rural work experience. Furthermore, the student-preceptor relationship has influence to sow the seeds for a continuing mentors that could make the possibility of rural employment much more enticing (p. 5).
This is relevant to student-preceptor relationships cause in the field of nursing rural nursing had been seen as a grey area. If the benefits of leaving everything behind being in a rural area did not outweigh the risks, then a nurse would not particularly get into rural nursing as their first choice. Yet, if the preceptor in rural nursing made the experience a positive one, then the benefits of being a nurse in the rural setting comes to the forefront; giving the student some insight into their own interests in that field.
Consequently, if the experience was a negative, then the student would most likely lose any interests they had in that field of nursing. Many studies eave been conducted to review the impact of preceptor support in facilitating positive outcomes for the student. As mentioned by Warren ; Dunham (201 0), research has confirmed that preceptors play a vital role in preparing students for nursing practice; therefore the need for adequate preparation assumes supervising, educating, and evaluating the tasks of nursing students is pivotal (p. 11).
Moreover, being a preceptor is not an easy position given that one individual is responsible for overseeing the practice of the novice. In any case, the preceptor’s goals and role should largely facilitate the success of the student. A key element to facilitating student success is to create a supportive environment; which includes setting aside personal problems. A study by Lutheran & Viola (as cited in Gaillardia, Wong and Cassia, 201 0) looked at preceptor leadership behavior and new graduate job satisfaction which identified the term ‘authentic leadership’.
This is the process that draws from both positive psychological capacities and a highly developed organizational context. This then results in both greater self- awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors on the part of leaders and associates fostering positive development (p. 944). Also mentioned in the same study, there is much importance in proprietorship when facilitating a smooth transition of new graduate nurses to the workplace. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in the development of preceptor authenticity (Globalization, Wong and Cassia, 201 0, p. 1001).
Given these results, it can be concluded that not all preceptors are positive role models but they do have the ability to be one if they altered their attitudes and clearly understood the goals being a preceptor. As students reflect on nursing practices, preceptors should consider looking into how their behaviors can possibly impact the students hey are teaching. In addition, having a positive attitude is important for the student to feel supported throughout their learning. Believe sometimes preceptors should be more attentive to their words and behaviors as this can instill fear or anxiety in a student.
This can then impact their learning, behaviors, skills and outcomes as a new graduate into the nursing world. From an ethical standpoint, it isn’t fair for a student to dislike their clinical experience because of the attitudes of their preceptor. It is important in any relationship to ensure comfort, support, and empathy. Furthermore, a dent’s health can be impacted given that the experience for the student is unprocurable. Then practice begins to feel like a burden, it can be unfulfilled and stressful which can impact a student resulting in poor outcomes.
Developmental issues can play a role in both the student and the preceptor in that students learn and grow from the environment in which they are being taught. Much of the learning development is dependent on the goals and vision of the preceptor which corresponds to the goals of the student. If these don’t meet somewhere in the middle, then the development of the student as nurse is impacted. Hence, the preceptor will not be satisfied with the students practice outcomes. Social factors are also relevant because being human requires one to be social, whether it is personal or professional, humans must interact with others to get tasks done.
If in nursing there is an awkward social situation between colleagues, or a negative work environment then this will impact the student tremendously. It will again impact them in that there will be no feelings of fulfillment or any desire to pursue interests in that field. Lastly, cultural, spiritual and economic factors may be relevant in he long run but in this particular case it doesn’t hold much relevance for elaboration. Revision Logon analyzing the key issues, the element of practice that would emphasize is the positive attitude of my preceptor.
Due to her positivist and helpfulness, my interests in cardiovascular surgery have increased. Furthermore, feel like I can learn in a supportive environment. I have embraced this situation because I have felt lucky enough to have had this senior nurse precept me during this particular shift. If I could change anything about my nursing abilities moving forward, I would make sure to carry this costive and embracing attitude into my years of nursing. This is not only to enjoy my occupation but to one day create and supportive environment for a student that may precept.
New Perspective Ultimately, my new perspective is that my clinical experiences as a student are largely influenced by my proprietorship. Through my experience with this nurse, I can say that have opened my mind and enjoyed the placement thus far due to how much positivist there was around me in terms how she conducted her work. The delivery of her healthcare is reflective of her positivist because it is seen in how much passion, dedication and love she has or her role as nurse in delivering care for effective client outcomes.