Reflections on being a Preceptor at the tTertiary Cure Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Clinical placements and practicums are considered as an integral part of the nursing curriculua all over the world, including Pakistan. Through my own experience and exploration of the relevant literature, it is clear that clinical practice is an integral learning experience whereby students apply theoretical and procedural knowledge into practice. These real-life clinical placements are essential in preparing students and new graduates for their nursing role and responsibility in the healthcare community (Duchscher, 2009). However, for teaching and facilitating students to achieve the required level of competency in the clinical setting, proper guidance is needed. One way to offer the required support to students is the utilization of a clinical preceptor. Pakistan's health care system is experiencing a shortage of nurses, despite the increasing volume of nursing students at teaching hospitals’ ofin Pakistan. However, this increasing volume of students necessitates the call for the involvement of prepared, qualified and trained preceptors’ involvement in clinical placements. Thus, in the bigger picture, the involvement of preceptors will contribute to improved quality of care and attainment of quality standards in Pakistan’s health care system. Furthermore, I believe that preceptors can also enhance the retention and satisfaction of new graduate nurses. Thus, a literature review was conducted to explore the facets of preceptorship, nurses’ retention, and preceptorship training programs.
Furthermore, the aim of my capping project is to highlight the significance of preceptorship roles in the transition of new graduate nurses in Pakistan. Through my project work, I would like to present possible strategies for the implementation of preceptorship models in Pakistan nursing faculties and healthcare. Since my project intends to develop the ideas and opportunities for wider implementation of the transitional preceptorship role in the Pakistan nursing context, I tried re-connected, face-to-face conversations with many peers and colleagues of mine from the same tertiary care teaching hospital in Pakistan where I hasd previously been employed as a registered nurse and clinical preceptor. The travel grant offered by the University of Alberta provided me with the opportunity to partinvolvcipate in the conversations with my colleagues who were currently workeding at the hospital where I was formerly employed in order to get a sense of the current and emerging needs of their practice setting. Through the informal conversations I had with my mentors, peers and colleagues while I visited Pakistan, I have identified some serious challenges in preceptorship for both preceptor and preceptee during the transition phase and the issues which were causing these challenges in preceptorship. I have discussed these challenges in detailed in the followed literature review section.