Implementation of Preceptorship in Ghana: “Marriage Between School and Clinical Settings”

Abstract

This research study was designed to explore roles of nursing students, preceptors and nurse educators in the implementation of preceptorship in the Ghanaian context. Preceptorship provides the opportunity for preceptors to offer practical experience to nursing students in the clinical setting. In order to provide effective clinical teaching and learning in Ghana, preceptorship was introduced in nursing education and preceptors were prepared primarily to provide clinical teaching at the clinical settings in Ghana. Ghanaian nurse educators therefore draw on preceptors to supervise students in the clinical practice setting. In Ghana, however, preceptorship is faced with challenges such as ineffective lines of communication between the nursing educational institution and the clinical settings. To date, little research has been conducted to examine preceptorship in Ghana. Focused ethnography was used to guide the current study. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 26 participants. Eight nurse educators, nine nursing students, and nine preceptors from a regional hospital and a diploma level nursing educational institution in a small city in Ghana participated in the study. The findings from this study revealed that the preceptors’ role involved predominantly teaching and the evaluation of student performance. The nurse educators supervised both students and preceptors in the clinical setting. The major roles of students included asking questions and expressing an interest to learn. In Ghana, preceptors, nursing students and nurse educators played important roles in the implementation of preceptorship. Inadequate preceptor support, lack of equipment and discrepancies during the evaluation process however, were major challenges to effective clinical teaching and learning. It is worth noting that that the use of preceptorship in this resource deprived setting is a major accomplishment.