The Four Primary Roles of the Preceptor

Educating and Precepting Tips for Teaching The Stitch

By: Sara Angelilli, DNP, RN, CNOR, NPD-BC

Published: 1/5/2024

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The preceptor plays a unique role in the personal and professional development of novice nurses. The preceptor may perform many roles to support other nurses, but there are four primary roles that create successful preceptor relationships: role model (influencer), socializer, coach (educator), and protector (Table 1). This article describes each role and provides actionable tips that can be implemented to improve precepting skills.

Table 1. Roles of the Preceptor1

RoleDefinitionExamples
Role model (influencer)Demonstrates safe nursing practice and encourages the novice nurse to do the same by influence and accountability
  • Integrates hospital policies and evidence-based guidelines in nursing care
SocializerAssists with integration of the novice nurse within the unit and organization through introductions and discussions about the expectations of the role
  • Welcomes the novice nurse to the unit
  • Introduces the novice nurse to care team members
  • Explains formal and informal role expectations
  • Supports speaking up behaviors and conversations with the medical team
Coach (educator)
Acknowledges learning needs and identifies experiences to support learning progression
  • Asks the novice nurse how they learn best
  • Identifies learning experiences to increase critical thinking skills
  • Documents progress on the organization’s orientation evaluation paperwork
  • Provides timely and balanced feedback to support professional development
ProtectorCreates a safe learning environment while protecting the patient
  • Creates a safe space for the novice nurse to ask questions or express doubts
  • Checks for understanding before the novice nurse performs a new task
  • Protects the novice nurse from incivility and escalates concerns
  • Protects the patient by ensuring safe delivery of care

        Role Model

        The preceptor acts as a role model who influences the development of safe nursing practice habits among novice nurses through social motivation. Social motivation describes the source of influence that grants encouragement for others to complete the correct behaviors through demonstration and accountability.1 Examples of the preceptor as a role model include safely caring for patients through the integration of hospital policies and evidence-based guidelines, effectively using their resources for collaboration, asking for help when indicated, and resolving conflict successfully to maintain positive relationships. Preceptors display congruent nursing practice when they follow evidence-based practice guidelines and hospital policies. Congruence between what preceptors say and how they perform nursing tasks is important to minimize confusion for novice nurses while they are integrating theory with critical thinking skills in professional practice.

        Socializer

        The second role of the preceptor is to facilitate socialization of the novice nurse. Socialization can be defined as the integration within a social group through the process of learning and adapting to new roles.1 Novice nurses may feel nervous about making good impressions with coworkers, learning how to navigate systems within the hospital, or speaking up with the medical team. The preceptor can facilitate socialization by introducing the new nurse to other care team members, explaining formal and informal expectations of the role, facilitating connections with hospital councils or systems, and influencing care team members to be accepting and supportive of new nurses.1

        Coach

        Preceptors guide experiential learning and professional development through the coach or educator role. Examples of the preceptor as a coach include acknowledgment of learning needs, identification of learning experiences, support for learning preferences, evaluation of performance, and provision of timely and balanced feedback.1 The preceptor works in collaboration with the clinical educator and unit leadership to facilitate training by identifying learning opportunities, providing clear instructions, assessing the novice nurse’s understanding of the expectations, observing practice, allowing the novice nurse space to reflect on the experience, and providing feedback.1 Performance evaluation should be documented according to organizational policy using approved forms.

        Tips for providing effective feedback include speaking about specific behaviors rather than generalized performance, providing balanced feedback, addressing what was directly observed, using nonjudgmental language, giving corrective feedback in private, limiting feedback to one or two items at a time, and allowing the learner to discuss how they plan to move from the current state to the desired performance (Table 2).1 A guide can help preceptors and novice nurses identify daily goals based on specific responsibilities that the RN circulator fulfills and set incremental goals that will foster a feeling a success and accomplishment (a sample guide is available for download).

        Table 2. Tips for Providing Effective Feedback

        Do This...
        		...Not That

         Give feedback highlighting specific behavioral examples of what did or did not go well, by stating what was directly observed.

        For example: “I noticed that you asked the patient about mobility restrictions during the perioperative assessment and then you made appropriate modifications during positioning that met the patient’s needs while still providing adequate access for the surgeon. Great critical thinking skills!”

        “Today, when I stopped you during the setup of the sterile field, I noticed that you were about to walk right between two sterile fields.”

        		Generalize performances by saying, for example, “Great job today,” or “You should study more about sterile technique.”
        Provide a balance of positive and constructive feedback so that the novice nurse knows what strengths to build on and where additional time should be focused to acquire skills or knowledge.Give only positive feedback to make the novice nurse feel good or give only negative feedback where improvement is needed (which can be defeating or overwhelming for the novice nurse).

        Use nonjudgmental language like:

        • “Help me understand…”
        • “This is different than what I expected.”
        • “How did you get to this outcome?”
        • “Yes, and…”
        • “My experience has been…”

        Use language that might place blame or otherwise make people feel defensive like:

        • “You aren’t making sense.”
        • “You aren’t doing this right.”
        • “Why did you do that?”
        • “Yes, but…”
        • “You should do…”
        Give feedback in a private setting to avoid embarrassing the novice nurse by giving the feedback in front of their colleagues.Announce to the whole OR what the novice nurse is not doing correctly (which can break trust between the novice nurse and their colleagues).
        Limit feedback to 1 to 3 items at a time so that the receiver can take in the information and reflect on how to use the feedback effectively.

        Give a laundry list of unactionable feedback that is overwhelming to the novice nurse. For example:

        “Today, I think that you could have done a better job prioritizing your tasks. It seems that you are not sure what should happen first in the room and then you get distracted by what the surgeon is asking you for. You weren’t prepared to be at the patient’s side when the anesthesia team was ready to intubate, and that’s a really critical time. You were running around so much, you almost forgot to count! I think that your sterile technique is pretty good overall, but I guess it could be better. Also, don’t be afraid to speak up in the room if you need to advocate for the patient. Don’t worry, though. It all gets better with more practice!”

        Give the receiver some time to take in the feedback and ask them to verbalize how they plan to use the feedback in their personal development plan to improve the next time they use this information or perform this skill. This will help crystalize the information, make the feedback actionable, and ensure that the message was correctly received.Give feedback and walk away (because the receiver may not fully understand the purpose of the feedback or how to successfully use the feedback to make future changes).

        Protector

        The fourth role of the preceptor is protecting patients and novice nurses. Preceptors are responsible for creating safe learning environments for novice nurses while ensuring safe delivery of patient care. The preceptor can create an environment of safety by encouraging questions, allowing the novice nurse to express doubts, and checking for understanding before the novice nurse performs a new task.1 Additionally, the preceptor can facilitate a safe learning environment by protecting the novice nurse from incivility or bullying. If there are any concerns regarding incivility or bullying, the preceptor should help the novice nurse learn speaking up tools and escalate concerns to unit leadership.

        Self-Assessment

        Preceptors can perform a self-assessment to reflect on their skills as a preceptor (Figure 1). They can also ask a trusted advisor for feedback. After they identify strengths and opportunities, they can determine resources and one or two action step(s) to gain knowledge or improve a skill. They should focus on one opportunity for improvement at a time to break their personal development plan into manageable steps.

        Figure 1. Sample Self-Assessment Tool for Preceptors1

        Reference

        1. Ulrich B. Mastering Precepting: A Nurse’s Handbook for Success. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International; 2019.

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