![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the preceptor continuity in a medical center in northern Taiwan.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to understand the expectations of preceptorship from the perspective of newly qualified nurses in a medical center in northern Taiwan.
Methods: A structured questionnaire was used in this study. The convenience sample, consisting of 119 first-year nurses, was taken from a medical center in northern Taiwan whose preceptor program was first implemented in 2009.
Results: Results showed that over 90% of respondents stated that they needed a preceptor during their first nursing job. Seventy-five percent of the respondents preferred being assigned continuously to the same preceptor for one-on-one mentoring. However, only 67% were actually assigned to a single preceptor. The major reason for arranging multiple preceptors was to balance preceptor availability with the reality of hospital shift work. The average time period for preceptorship in this survey was one and half months; however, over forty percent of the respondents expressed a desire for at least 3 months of preceptor continuity. In terms of expectations measured on 1 to 5 scale, the majority of respondents rated each of the distinctive aspects of preceptorship as being important or very important. No statistical significance was found between demographic data and new graduate nurses’ expectations of preceptorship.
Conclusion: These results contributed to understanding the desired attributes of preceptors from the perspective of newly qualified nurses and providing reference value with regards to the implementation of the preceptor programs.