ICU nurse preceptors’ perceptions of benefits, rewards, supports and commitment to the preceptor role: A mixed-methods study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.102995Get rights and content

Highlights

  • ICU nurse preceptors value the altruistic benefits of preceptorship .

  • Commitment is increased when organisational benefits are recognised.

  • ICU preceptors report a lack of consistency and support in their role.

Abstract

This paper explores Intensive Care nurses’ perceptions of benefits, rewards, supports and their commitment to the role of preceptor. A questionnaire, consisting of Likert-scales and open-ended questions was used to collect data during October 2018.

Preceptors were committed to their role. Correlations were found between preceptors’ perceptions of benefits or rewards and commitment to the role (p = 0.003, r2 = 0.39) and perceptions of support and commitment to the role (p = .001, r2 = 0.46). Altruistic benefits were perceived to be of the greatest importance. Participants who recognised the importance of preceptorship for the organisation were more likely to be committed to the role. Eighty-three percent of respondents reported a lack of consistency in allocation to work with their preceptee.

Qualitative results elucidated themes of helping, personal professional development, the opportunity to teach, and organisational improvement. Supports as barriers and enablers to successful preceptorship were discussed in terms of peer and leadership support, role preparation, the logistics of the environment, role conflict, and consistency of allocation to work in a preceptorship dyad.

Commitment to the preceptor role may be increased by highlighting organisational benefits of preceptorship, increasing consistency of contact between preceptorship dyads, and increasing access to supports and preparation.

Section snippets

Background

Preceptorship involves the placement of novice and beginning nurses in a relationship with more experienced staff to facilitate role transition and learning in the workplace (Trede et al., 2016). Predominantly, this is a one-on-one, time limited relationship (Bourbonnais and Kerr, 2007). Initially predicated on a need to bridge the theory-practice gap and reality shock experienced by newly qualified nurses (Kramer, 1974), preceptorship has evolved to encompass the support of a broader

Design

A cross-sectional mixed-method design.

Sample and procedure

The study was undertaken in a metropolitan hospital ICU located in Victoria, Australia. The 15-bed ICU employed 113 nursing staff. As no record of active or past preceptors existed, an email outlining the purpose of the study was sent to all nurses employed by this department. Nurses who had acted in the role of preceptor and who agreed to participate were invited to complete a four-part questionnaire via a web-based survey. To ensure only those who had

Internal validity

Using Cronbach's alpha, all scales demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency in this new population of nurses: PPBR α = 0.92, PPS α = 0.97 and CPR α = 0.80.

Demographics

Thirty-three nurses responded to the survey. As the true denominator of nurses who had acted as preceptors was not known a response rate could not be calculated. Two responses were excluded due to respondents not having worked as a preceptor, three were excluded as respondents had answered only demographic questions.

Most

Perceptions of benefits, rewards and commitment

To our knowledge, this study is the first replication of Dibert and Goldenberg's (1995) research in a purely ICU context. In this study, the relationship between perceived benefits/rewards, and commitment to the role is consistent with studies in other clinical areas, for example Dibert and Goldenberg (1995) or Kalischuk (2013), suggesting that the work environment has limited influence on this relationship.

Similarly, the positive correlation between perceived intrinsic or altruistic rewards

Conclusions

For these preceptors, perception of benefits/rewards and support was positively correlated with a commitment to their role. Greater importance was given to the altruistic outcomes of preceptorship, such as the positive effect on the preceptee, than either personal or organisational benefits. However, commitment to the role was increased when preceptors recognised the organisational benefits of preceptorship. Preceptors in this study were more likely to feel adequately prepared to precept when

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Statement of authorship

The authorship for this paper follows accepted conventions. The research was supervised by Dr. Susanne Francisco. Dr. Francisco wished to be acknowledged but not named as an author.

The list of authorship and contributions is outlined below:

  • 1. Mr Andy Macey: study design, ethics applications, data collection, data analysis, production of manuscript for publication.

  • 2. Mr Cameron Green: advice and assistance with data analysis, editing of final draft of manuscript for publication

  • 3. Dr. Rebecca

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was granted by the local health service Human Research and Ethics Committee (ref.: LNR/18/PH/34).

Declaration of interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

Dr Susanne Francisco: Ph.D.

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