Preparing Pre-Licensure Students for the Community-Based Primary Care Nursing Workforce: Capacity Clinical Preceptor Education Model

Objective: Preparing pre-licensure nursing students to enter the community-based primary care workforce will require quality clinical experiences. The Community-Academic Partnership for Primary Care Transformation (CAPACITY) project, funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration involves an academic-clinical partnership between the School of Nursing, Emory University and Mercy Care, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving vulnerable populations in Atlanta, Georgia. In this presentation, we describe how we are leveraging this partnership to create a clinical learning environment similar to a dedicated education unit (DEU) within a primary care setting for pre-licensure accelerated BSN students.

Approach: With the support and leadership of Mercy Care’s clinical nurse manager, RN preceptors were identified across the different clinics and service areas of Mercy Care including primary care clinics, behavioral health, care coordination, and street medicine (service to the unsheltered in urban Atlanta). Five core preceptors were identified to precept 10 students. Professional development needs related to serving as a clinical preceptor were assessed and professional development is being provided to address knowledge gaps. Within the model, School of Nursing faculty serve as support for both RN preceptors and students. Additionally, faculty are specifically selected to oversee students in the site based on their expertise working with vulnerable populations. Within Mercy Care, students are learning how to practice to the full scope of their license from RNs who are modeling these nursing activities. Students’ clinical experiences are being captured in Typhon to help assure community-based primary care learning objectives are being met.

Outcomes: Feedback from the clinical manager, RN preceptors, and clinical instructors is positive and indicate the CAPACITY model is leading to high quality clinical education for students in the community-based primary care setting. The model will be refined and evaluated across the four years of the project, with particular emphasis and leveling of expected competencies for students across their 4 semester program and what specific clinical experiences best prepare to enter community-based primary care following graduation.