Preceptors' teaching strategies- How do preceptors' enhance the students' ability to understand, problem solve and perform competently in clinical practice

Backround The preceptorship model of clinical teaching was introduced to support the BNSc degree programme (GOI 2000). Relatively little is known how this Irish model has impacted upon the pedagogical practices of the... [ view full abstract ]

Backround
The preceptorship model of clinical teaching was introduced to support the BNSc degree programme (GOI 2000). Relatively little is known how this Irish model has impacted upon the pedagogical practices of the preceptor or student learning in clinical practice. An international literature review highlighted the question of what actually constitutes effective teaching and learning in clinical practice at undergraduate level which was the subject of this study

Aims & Objectives
1. What are the pedagogical practices of the preceptor when teaching and assessing the undergraduate BNSc general students?
2. When does best practice based on current theoretical professional and educational principles in relation to the clinical teaching and assessment of undergraduate BNSc (general) students occur?

Method
An in-depth exploratory qualitative research study was undertaken. It involved the study of a purposively selected sample of 13 students and 13 preceptors, working together on four clinical areas in one hospital in Ireland. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of both preceptors and students and included documentary analysis relating to the teaching and assessment of the degree students. A form of thematic analyse was used to analyse the data. Ethical approval was received from the hospital's Ethics Committee.

Findings
The main emphasis of the paper will focus on those findings that showed how preceptors’ perceived their role and the teaching strategies they used in their day to day practice to foster performance and understanding. It will also elucidate what represented an effective learning experience from a students’ perspective.

Conclusions
A best practice clinical teaching and learning model is offered based on the evidence of this study. The paper will also demonstrate how the educational theories of Cognitive apprenticeship and situated learning (Vygotsky 1978,Collins 2006,Lave 2009, Wenger 2009) can be helpful in understanding the teaching and learning processes entailed in preceptorship.