Clinical preceptor. An insight from the students of the Bachelor’s in Nursing and Obstetrics

Abstract

Introduction: This study is derived from the research project: “Clinical Tutoring under a Reflexive Perspective as a Teaching Strategy in Fundamental Nursing Learning”.

Objective: To analyze the clinical preceptor’s work from the perspective of his/her students.

Methodology: Basic, descriptive study with a population of 16 sophomore students from a Bachelor ́s in Nursing and Obstetrics Program, who were enrolled in Nursing Fundamentals II, and had clinical practices under a Model of Reflexive Clinical Tutoring. A sample of 11 students answered a 22-item Likert instrument related to 4 categories: communication, collaboration, clinical teaching, and assessment.

Results: Communication and collaboration were favorable during the tutoring, however group work was not encouraged, and this had an impact on the learning process. In addition, students were not uniformly assessed by the teacher.

Discussion: The teacher should acknowledge his/her function as a clinical preceptor within the reality of care recognizing that verbal and not-verbal communication are fundamental in learning. He/she should also encourage a collaborative group study format addressing each student ́s needs, and integrally evaluating the overall experience.