It is important for nurses today and for those joining the workforce in the future to have familiarity and training with respect to interprofessional research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement. In an effort to address this need, we describe a 10-week summer research program that immerses undergraduate nursing students in a broad spectrum of clinical and translational research projects as part of their exposure to advanced nursing roles. In doing so, the program increases the ability of the students to participate in research, effectively interact with academic medical center researchers, and incorporate elements of evidence-based practice into future nursing interventions. Their mentors are nurses practicing in roles as nurse researcher, advanced practice nurses involved in evidence-based practice or quality improvement, and clinical trials research nurses. Each student is matched with 3 of these mentors and involved in 3 different projects. Through this exposure, the students benefit from observing multiple nursing roles, taking an active role in research-related activities participating in interdisciplinary learning experiences. Overall, the program provides benefits to the students, who demonstrate measured improvement with respect to the program objectives, and to their mentors and each of the participating organizations.

Purpose To describe the challenges shared by schools of nursing and precepting institutions in meeting the clinical rotation requirements for nurse practitioner (NP) students. A formal process was developed to screen students and provide appropriate clinical placement with ongoing evaluations. Detailed description of a preceptor class for NPs is offered. Data sources Single institution NP survey, preceptor class participant survey, author experience, and PubMed, CINAHL. Conclusions The barriers to precepting are well known, particularly from the viewpoint of schools of nursing. This article describes the barriers from a precepting institution's standpoint. Standardizing processes and expectations for NP students and preceptors improves the overall efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of the clinical experiences. Implications for practice Highlights of an NP preceptor class and efforts to streamline precepting arrangements are described. Lessons learned, including the need to minimize paperwork burden on students during the preclinical period and the continued need for improvement of evaluation tools, are discussed. Recommendations for ways to blend specialty rotations with primary care rotations are made.

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