Nursing and Advanced Practice Preceptors

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Play a critical role in preparing nurses to be leaders in tomorrow's healthcare.

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Nursing and Advanced Practice Preceptors

Welcome!

Dear Healthcare Professional:

Welcome to the School of Nursing at MGH Institute of Health Professions. We want to support preceptors with helpful information they can use while working with students. This preceptor landing page is newly developed as a resource for you.

MGH Institute School of Nursing programs are designed to prepare nurses to assume leadership roles in the health care system of the future. This includes engaging diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities in the mutual pursuit of healing and wholeness. We achieve this mission through excellence and innovation in education, scholarship, service, and practice.

Preceptors provide the bridge from the theoretical concepts to real-world practice and prepare our student to offer high quality comprehensive, compassionate health care.

Why do busy healthcare professionals become preceptors? They often share that they remember what it was like to be a student. Preceptors remember their own clinical experiences that shaped them into the providers they are today and recognize that being a preceptor is a way to pay it back and make their own contributions to the future of this essential profession.

If you are already a preceptor, thank you. If you would like to be a preceptor, come and be a part of our team [1]. You will significantly impact a student’s educational experience.

Rick Hedstrom, DEN student

"I was fortunate enough to have my fall 2016 clinical at the Falmouth Emergency Department with Dr. Michael Rest. What a fantastic experience! Dr. Rest went out of his way to help make every interaction a positive learning experience. He challenged me to come up with sensible differentials and I sincerely appreciate the time he took to review and explain advanced concepts to me."

Rick Hedstrom
Direct-Entry Master of Science Nursing student

Thoughtful. Caring. Meet Our Preceptors

Clinical Educator

Sharon DiVitto, RN, MA, MS, CS, APRN BC

“I have had the privilege to precept Psych NP students from the MGH Institute for the past 17 years in Emergency Mental Health Services.

I believe it is very important to be a compassionate and fun mentor and provide exciting and diverse experiences in working with patients, their families, and coworkers in this very acute and sometimes dangerous environment.”

Learn more about Sharon DiVitto [2].

Read Full Story [3]

Clinical Educator

Michael J. Rest, MD

The busy Emergency Department at Falmouth Hospital is a great setting for our students; it allows the students the opportunity to be a diagnostician...

I love the curiosity, excitement, and genuine interest the students bring to rotations. Sharing the students’ compassion and interest in each case reminds me that medicine is an amazing field and that I’m privileged to play a role.

Learn more about Dr. Rest. [4]

Read Full Story [5]

Clinical Educator

Leslie Young, MSN '12, FNP-BC, RN

"I love precepting students! It keeps me on my A-game, as students are always interested in knowing why I made particular decisions in patient care....

I’m always more than happy to discuss precepting with other providers, whether you are trying to decide if you want to precept a student or you have been precepting for years!"

Learn more about Leslie Young. [6]

Read Full Story [7]

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The Preceptor Role

Preceptors are clinicians who provide the bridge from the theoretical concepts to real-world practice and prepare our student to offer high quality comprehensive, compassionate health care. Precepting involves the clinician, student, and faculty. The clinician guides the student in practice through teaching, mentoring, role modeling, and evaluation.

The preceptor is a resource to the student and allows opportunities for the clinical application of knowledge and skills in advance-practice nursing.
Students should see a variety of patients based on their skill level in the program. Preceptors are not responsible for the final course grade,
but do provide valuable input into the clinical evaluation.

Preceptor Responsibilities

Orient the student to the clinical setting
Provide clinical experiences that meet the student’s learning objectives
Establish clear expectations for the clinical experience
Assess the student’s progress and give appropriate feedback
Communicate openly with the student and faculty.
Promote critical thinking and incorporate evidence-based practice in clinical decision making
Review clinical documentation
Provide direct supervision of all clinical visits.
Complete regular clinical evaluations using the E*value system. [https://www.e-value.net/login.cfm [8] ]

Student Responsibilities

Initiate contact with the preceptor within the first week of assignment.
Establish a schedule with the preceptor and complete the onboarding process.
Demonstrate adequate preparedness for clinical practice.
Communicate learning objectives for clinical experience with the preceptor.
Seek learning opportunities within the clinical rotation.
Arrive on time to the clinical experience.
Demonstrate professionalism, respect, and appropriate communication with preceptor and healthcare team.
Document clinical hours accurately.
Complete evaluation of site and preceptor at the end of the semester.

Faculty Responsibilities

Establish a clinical agreement with the preceptor.
Provide the course goals and objectives
Orient the preceptor to the role.
Conduct a clinical site visit with the student and preceptor.
Facilitate communication with the preceptor, student, and School of Nursing
Complete course grading based on clinical evaluations and course requirements.

Tangible Benefits of Being a Preceptor

ExpertFaculty.svg [9]

Tuition Vouchers

Tuition Vouchers can be used to pay for courses (up to 12 credits) at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Depending on the course, this can equal a savings of over $14,000 in after-tax income. Learn more about Vouchers [10].

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Advanced Practice Nursing Recertification

We provide preceptors with 104 hours of credit per semester to be used toward advanced-practice recertification. Review information on certification of hours [10]. [10]

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Library Access

Our preceptors receive full access to our library of Point-of-Care resources like: Up to Date, DynaMed, National Guideline Clearing House, OvidSP, PubMed@MGH [13], CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline Complete, Clinical Key, and many more. Learn how to request library access [10].

Orientation for Precepting

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in precepting our nurse practitioner students. We welcome your expertise and contribution to our student’s clinical education. Preceptors provide the bridge from the theoretical concepts to real-world practice and prepare our student to offer high-quality, comprehensive, compassionate healthcare to all individuals, families, and the community. We offer you an overview of our NP programs, and available resources you may use to guide you in providing clinical education.

Program Overview

MGH Institute of Health Professions offers graduate-level programs to prepare students for advanced practice nursing in the nurse practitioner role. Students may be admitted to one of three programs:

Direct-Entry Master of Science, Nursing [14]
Master of Science, Nursing Post-RN [15]
Certificate of Advanced Study [16]

Students must select one of the Advanced Practice Nursing Specialties [17] they wish to pursue at the time of admission. The content of each specialty includes advanced courses in health assessment, pharmacology, and pathophysiology, research, health policy, professional issues, and ethics. Each student must complete courses in their selected specialty and a series of clinical rotations demonstrating competency.

Students complete 630 hours in advanced practice over four semesters. Clinical rotations may be in a variety of primary, acute and/or community-based settings. Upon successful completion of the program, students are eligible to take the national certification exam related to their specialty.

Key MGH Institute People

-Jason R. Lucey, DNP, FNP-BC, Assistant Professor, Program Director Advanced Practice Programs

Advanced placement Nursing preceptor and students

Resources for Preceptors

The School of Nursing aims to support preceptors in their critical role.

We value your time and dedication to our students and want to provide streamlined, easily accessible information to you when you need it. Resources for preceptors encompass information you may need during your tenure as a preceptor.