6 Tips to be a Better Nurse Preceptor

A new generation of nurses means two things: 1) there is hope for those of you who are overworked, overstressed, and under-resourced, carrying our entire healthcare system on your exhausted backs, and 2) someone’s gotta train them. 
 
Being a preceptor to a new nurse is an honor, because it definitely means that your manager thinks you are a nurse to be embodied, but it can also be a big challenge. The pay isn’t very high (sometimes nothing), you’ll still have your own patients to take care of, and just because you’re assigned an orientee, doesn’t necessarily mean that you two will jive together. 
 

 
For many nurses, being a preceptor for the first time can be yet another challenge in their nursing journey (does the learning ever end as a nurse? Nope!), but here are some tips to help you succeed. 
 
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1. Don’t overwhelm your new nurse with too much at once

As a recent new grad, Meaghan Saelens, 27, an OR nurse from Michigan shares that she found it helpful when her preceptor made a concerted effort to take her learning very slow. When she had a preceptor dump too much information on her at once, it was easy to get overwhelmed, shut down, and not be able to retain any knowledge at all. 

Instead, she found she learned best when her preceptor took things slowly and introduced new skills and information at a slower pace. Everyone is different, so as a preceptor, don’t be afraid to talk to your nurse trainee and ask them how they are doing—if they are overwhelmed or struggling with a particular skill or concept, use that as a chance to slow down and master that before moving on.

2. Be willing to walk through even “simple” tasks

If you’ve been in the nursing game for a while, chances are, you perform a lot of your daily tasks in full auto-pilot mode. We’re talking hanging IV meds, drawing up meds, opening packages, starting IVs, measuring fluids—all of it. But for new nurses, every single “simple” task is something new, so it’s important to be willing to explain even what appears to be the simplest tasks. 

Every nurse will be coming onto the floor with different experiences, so ask your nurse: maybe they’ve worked the floor as a tech or intern and don’t need help with how to work that IV pump or keep all of the lines straight. Or maybe they need full-on, hands-on experience with everything. And if they do, that’s okay! 

“Be sure not to just do everything out of habit or else they won’t learn to do things on their own,” notes Saelens.

3. Don’t limit them to simple tasks

On the flip side, however, it’s equally as important to let your new nurse spread their wings on the floor. We’ve all been the nursing students who were given hours of changing bed linens and bed pans and doing bed baths and while those are important tasks to be done and know how to do correctly, it’s important to keep in mind that during orientation, your job as a preceptor is to expose your new grad to as many educational experiences as possible. 

That means that although it might seem like you’re getting a second set of hands to help you on your shift, it’s more important to get those nurse experiences that will help them in the future. If you keep them busy changing linens all day, they won’t get the exposure in a supportive environment that they need to grow.

4. Put the word out to the rest of the staff

Even though you’re the preceptor, that doesn’t mean that your orientee’s full training rests solely on your shoulders. Your job is to get them trained by exposing them to the most educational opportunities possible. That means that if you’re helping them find other ways to learn, you’re absolutely doing your job. 

Maybe you know your orientee struggles with IVs and your co-worker is an IV wizard—set your trainee up to learn from them for a day. Maybe there’s a certain procedure they need to experience—spread the word among the rest of the staff so they can pull your trainee in when it happens. Nursing is forever a team sport and that starts now.

5. Plan for full days near the end of training

As you plan out your orientation schedule, it might be helpful to plan for the last week or so to have your orientee be fully “independent” with you as a backup. Remember, this is their time to learn, so it’s not you being lazy or you not doing your job—your job is to train this new nurse and that means stepping back, letting them take the reins (even if they make mistakes!), and being there to support and correct them as needed. 

They will definitely make mistakes and that will only help their growth, but be sure to have a debriefing session at the end of every shift or big task checked off to go over what was done and what could be improved upon.

6. Speak up—for both of your sake’s  

Last but not least, if you and your orientee truly are not a good fit for each other, if you feel unsafe in any way, or you cannot meet your trainee’s educational needs, don’t be afraid to speak up and talk to your manager about the situation. 

There is no shame in admitting it’s not working and in fact, it’s the best thing you can do if you feel your trainee would benefit from someone different. Additionally, there may be other solutions that could work out if there’s a problem, but no matter what, communication is key if there is a roadblock.