Examination of the Preceptor Education Program to Facilitate Clinical Reflection of New Nurses

• Published in: Journal of Japan Academy of Nursing Science Vol. 38; pp. 27 - 36
• Main Authors: Maeda, Hitomi, Muto, Masako
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japan Academy of Nursing Science 2018
• Subjects: new nurse; preceptor education program; reflection
• ISSN: 0287-5330; 2185-8888
• DOI: 10.5630/jans.38.27

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the preceptor education program to facilitate reflections about the clinical experiences of new nurses.Methods: [Research Design] Intervention study on a single subject. [Subjects] Seventy-six preceptors of a University Hospital. [Methods of Analysis] Self-evaluations of preceptors on reflection support sessions, which were conducted four times, were compared. The types of preceptors’ questions were classified at the supporting reflection in two pairs. Additionally, the amount of remarks of new nurses in the session was quantitatively analyzed.Results: In respect of self-evaluations by the preceptors, 14 out of 20 items concerning support skills, including “wait for remarks of the new nurse”, and three items concerning changes in attitude toward support, such as “Notice my tendency” were significantly higher in and after the third sessions (P < .05). In the two sets of support situations, with continuous support, there was an increase from “pursuing type” to “confirmation type” questions for Preceptor A and from “confirmation type” to “eliciting type” questions for Preceptor B, which demonstrated that the preceptors had changed in such a way that they could ask questions that elicited ideas and thoughts from the new nurses.Conclusion: The changes in the preceptors’ support approaches suggest that this program is effective in developing preceptors who can support the new nurses’ reflection on their clinical experience.