The Impact of Nursing Preceptorship Program on Teaching Competencies and Effectiveness among Palestinian Clinical Preceptors: A Quasi-experimental Study رسالة دكتوراة

Abstract

Background: Clinical education is essential for imparting knowledge and skills to nursing students. Effective and competent nurse preceptors are crucial in preparing students with these skills and knowledge to deliver quality patient care. Through clinical education, students gain experience in diverse patient care settings, receive proper guidance and monitoring, and develop clinical competence in nursing. Clinical nurse preceptors play a vital role by teaching essential clinical skills, significantly impacting students' learning and development. However, this role in meeting educational standards requires further exploration. This study aims to examine the impact of the Nursing Preceptorship Program on Teaching Competencies and Effectiveness among Palestinian Clinical Preceptors. Design and method: A single-group quasi-experimental evaluative approach and a pretest posttest design were used in this study. A single group of 62 preceptors was recruited for the pretest and post-test of the preceptorship program, which was conducted in workshops in four governmental hospitals in the West Bank for three days in each hospital. Furthermore, 150 participants from nursing students divided into two cohorts (67 control group & 83 intervention group), assessed the preceptors. This study used the Clinical Teaching Competence Inventory and the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory as measurement tools. In addition, the researcher evaluated the preceptors by using the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory. Findings and Results: The data indicated that 35.5% of the preceptors were aged 31-35 years, while 17.7% were aged 40 and above. vi Nearly all have experience ranging from five to ten years, constituting 90%. The name of the course they were training was the medical and surgical 36 (58%), and 26 (42%) the training course was advanced nursing. The data analysis indicates all the mean values of overall domains in the Clinical Teaching Competence Inventory in the posttests are higher than the corresponding means in the pretests (F = 8.19, P = 0.00). The Student Evaluation domain in the posttest (Mean=4.59) was significantly higher than in the pretest (Mean=3.92). The Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory scores of the researcher observation’s preceptors showed that all means were above the midpoints. The nursing students’ perception of preceptor characteristics before and after implementing the preceptorship program revealed no statistical significance between the control and experimental groups of the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory. At the same time, the mean score in the experimental group (Mean = 6.18) was higher than in the control group (Mean = 5.93). This explores the significance of implementing the preceptorship program. Conclusion The preceptorship training program enhances and improves preceptor competency and effectiveness, as indicated by post-test results and student evaluation. It assists preceptors in employing diverse teaching strategies to equip and cultivate proficient nursing students