Examples from practice: case studies
This case study information was provided by clinicians across Scotland with experience in developing preceptorship support for AHPs going through a period of transition. These examples come from Diagnostic Radiography, Therapeutic Radiography, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Speech and Language Therapy and Paramedics.
At what stage of a person’s career is preceptorship offered in your service?
- Newly Qualified Practitioners (NQPs)
- Advanced practitioners
- Returnees to practice (RtP)
- Band 4 pre-registration roles
Tell us about your preceptorship programme?
- For NQPs we developed a detailed portfolio of activities to support Royal College of Speech and Language therapy competencies.
- For paramedics becoming an advanced practitioner there is structured support and mentorship and practical support.
- Our podiatry Return to Practice support is based on the HCPC Standards of Proficiency. We look to align development opportunities to enable to meet these expectations. Preceptees receive formal study sessions and clinical exposure guided by a preceptor. Ongoing reflection and feedback is threaded throughout to inform ongoing learning and development.
- Band 6 Practice development posts were created to offer support to NQPs, returnees to practice and band 4 pre-registration posts.
- There are weekly sessions for mentoring, feedback and reflection and a peer support group that meets every 6-8 weeks to facilitate case study discussions.
- We created a support framework covering competencies of roles and developed a questionnaire to provide feedback and data with how staff have improved over their first year.
What are the benefits?
- Our programme offers great support particularly for new staff members who are struggling or are requiring extra support. It is a great way to learn about other therapists and their roles/team for development of own practice. It offers the preceptee an increase in confidence through completing the tasks and receiving feedback on performance.
- In the last 2 years we have shown to retain 20 out of 23 permanent contract new starts, which has been a great success for our department, especially with current recruitment and retention challenges.
- It supports recruitment and staff retention
- It reduces anxiety which is common in a new role. It offers shared learning and improves confidence and knowledge
- The preceptee can expect a structured approach to developing skills over time.
- Our new structure now provides equality & consistency of support to all newer staff within their 1st year of practice and establishes good relationships within the team. It has shown from our evaluation to improve confidence levels in both clinical and non-clinical environments, allowing staff to provide the best patient centred care from early in their careers.
- It helps assure clinical governance and patient safety
- Structure and support provides strong foundation of knowledge and skills that enables the preceptee to build confidence in their clinical decision making.
- Services can be confident that a level of competence has been achieved.
- Being involved in the process provides the preceptor with an opportunity to help a colleague’s learning and development whilst opening up new learning opportunities for the them.
- In our service, the preceptor and preceptee do not work directly together, so can share experiences and learning from different perspectives.
What have been the challenges?
- Forming a structure was initially a challenge as at the time there were no previous resources available to build upon.
- There have been very few challenges as our department is keen to support preceptees returning to practice and new graduates.
- Travel between sites for preceptorship meetings has been challenging at times.
- Understanding where to start with someone who has been out practice for along time can be challenging.
- Balancing the needs of the service and ensuring protected time for preceptorship.
- Ensuring an adequate supply of experienced and trained staff to provide preceptorship support can be challenging.
What are the benefits to the preceptor?
- Protected time to invest and mentor preceptees
- Developing skills in mentoring and supporting others
- A role in mentoring and supporting less experienced members of staff can help you reflect on your own practice
- Witnessing the ownership a preceptee takes during their preceptorship is inspiring. Seeing the preceptee develop over time and seeing their confidence increase are exciting features of enabling a person to return to practice.
- The opportunity you have to work with a person who is invested in their own development, and having enabling conversations, makes the effort of developing the programme worthwhile.
- Engagement with a broader range of staff and having protected time to aid and influence their development is immensely rewarding.
- It is greatly satisfying and makes you proud to watch the preceptees you have mentored going on to build upon and improve their knowledge and skills, and at times move into promoted posts.
What advice do you have for those looking to implement preceptorship in their service?
- We need to invest to ensure we maintain safe staffing levels which ultimately benefit the patients and our services whilst raising staff morale
- Why not? Its a thoroughly enriching opportunity for all involved which can open up pipeline of clinicians back into our service, which can only be a positive given the recruitment and retention issues faced across the healthcare system.
- Build a support framework with all clinical and non-clinical competencies at the start as we found all of our work led from this.
- Having allocated staff with protected time has been invaluable to collaborative working throughout our department and has provided equitable structured support to all new staff.