The Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program at a local state university utilizes a different, innovative strategy to address students’ clinical requirements by using Bachelor prepared Registered Nurses as clinical coaches. Utilizing practicing nurses as coaches for clinical learning is the hallmark of this ABSN program, and provides personal, one-on-one clinical instruction utilizing targeted methods. The coach model allows a partnership between the hospital organization and the higher education institution with the goal of producing safe, competent and compassionate professional nurses. The students are often hired into the unit where they completed clinical rotations throughout the twelve month period. The uniqueness of the clinical experience comes from the use of the student, coach, and faculty triad. The professional nurse agrees to precept a nursing student for the 12 months, completes coach training, and precepts the student throughout the program. The nursing student is paired with the coach and completes clinical rotations on the coach’s unit except for specialty rotations such as obstetrics. The coaches encourage critical thinking and problem solving within the inpatient setting for the entire nursing program. Coaches provide a safe learning environment for students to implement knowledge gained in didactic courses throughout the program. The students have the added benefit of completing clinical shifts with a consistent coach who knows what the student has experienced and builds on those experiences. The students follow the coach’s clinical schedule, completing 1 to 2 clinical shifts per week to meet the curriculum requirement. The implementation of the coach model has resulted in positive outcomes related to coach/student retention, graduation, National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses pass rates, graduate/coach satisfaction and job opportunities post-graduation. Another benefit is the reduction of clinical faculty while maintaining high-quality clinical experiences for students. Employing the innovative clinical coach model has the ultimate benefit of true role socialization for the novice nurse and greatly benefits the nursing students’ clinical reasoning and skill set on entry to practice. Ultimately, this impacts future nurse retention and allows for a smooth and successful transition from student to professional nursing practice.
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