A Portal to Precept: Addressing Barriers and Engaging Clinical Preceptors

BACKGROUND: Graduate nursing programs face a critical shortage of preceptors to guide the translation of education to clinical practice. Preceptors face barriers to mentoring students, including inadequate training and orientation and lack of benefits and time. PURPOSE: The purpose was to develop a preceptor portal focused on increasing retention and quality of preceptors for graduate students through orientation, training, and incentives. METHODS: The Portal to Precept (P2P) was developed to minimize barriers and track preceptor participation and engagement. RESULTS: A total of 549 preceptors were invited to participate in the P2P over a 12-month period, resulting in 94 preceptors enrolling (17.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Despite differences within scope of practice among graduate nursing programs, providing a standardized framework for preceptor development and support may improve the experience for both students and preceptors. Accessible preceptor orientation, training, and incentives can address some of the existing barriers to clinical precepting.