Supporting Nurse Practitioner Preceptor Development

Increases in the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) completing their educational programs create a challenge for universities as well as health care organizations. More clinical preceptors are needed to support students and new professionals transitioning to clinical practice. Although preceptors are critical in the evolution from new NP to competent provider, there is a lack of information available to NP preceptors related to developing effective clinical teaching skills. This comprehensive literature review evaluates current, evidence-based strategies for preceptor development. The findings in the literature show improvement in clinical reasoning when structured preceptor methods are incorporated into clinical practice.