Preceptorship in the Ghanaian context: “Coaching for a winning team”

Abstract

Background: Preceptorship is an approach to teaching and learning in the clinical setting. It is purported to facilitate the connection between nursing education and clinical practice, foster an ethos for critical thinking, and contribute to professional development. As part of nursing education in Ghana, preceptors collaborate with educational institutions to enhance the supervision of students in the clinical settings. However, working relations between the hospitals and the health training institutions in many regions in Ghana are challenging, with hospitals only passively involved in the education of students. Purpose:The purpose of the current study was to explore the perceptions of Ghanaian nursing students, preceptors and nurse educators regarding their preceptorship experience. Methods:A focused ethnographic approach guided the study. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 26 nurse educators, nursing students, and preceptors from a regional hospital and a diploma level nursing educational institution in a small city in Ghana. Eight nurse educators and nine nursing students participated from the educational institution and nine preceptors participated from the hospital. Results:Findings from this study indicated that: a) preceptorship in Ghana was not well established and was in the developmental stage; and b) clinical teaching and learning were influenced by the stakeholders involved in nursing education in Ghana. Conclusions:Although preceptors were used in Ghana, the clinical teaching approach did not reflect the concept of preceptorship. Stakeholders in nursing education from both within and outside the clinical settings influenced the clinical teaching environment. Findings from the study present baseline data for stakeholders in nursing education to promote effective preceptorship programs in Ghana.

Preceptorship versus Clinical Teaching Partnership: Literature Review and Recommendations for Implementation in Ghana

“…The nurses who were prepared as preceptors were supposed to prepare more preceptors in their various regions to enhance the clinical teaching of nursing [5]. Preparation of other nurses as preceptors did not take place in many of the regions [5]. However, evidence in the literature shows that preceptors perform better when they are educated through a preceptorship programme.…”

“…Results showed participants' knowledge on preceptorship improved significantly after a preceptorship education programme. Currently, there is no formal structure of educating preceptors in Ghana [5]. For preceptorship to become an effective clinical component of nursing education in Ghana, there must be a strong collaboration between nursing schools and health service, where preceptors and faculty members are regularly educated on the collaborative preceptorship model.…”

“…In Ghana, formal clinical nursing education started in the early 1990s in the form of preceptorship, when nurses were invited from various regions by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Ghana to participate in a preceptorship workshop [5]. The nurses who were prepared as preceptors were supposed to prepare more preceptors in their various regions to enhance the clinical teaching of nursing [5]. Preparation of other nurses as preceptors did not take place in many of the regions [5].…”

“…Although nursing care has changed significantly over the past 30 years, methods to clinically educate nursing students have not [3,4]. The dominant clinical education model used in Ghana is the preceptorship model [5]. However, poor working relations between hospitals and health training institutions in many regions, inadequate preceptor preparations, and inadequate faculty supervisions result in an unstable clinical environment for students [5].…”

“…The dominant clinical education model used in Ghana is the preceptorship model [5]. However, poor working relations between hospitals and health training institutions in many regions, inadequate preceptor preparations, and inadequate faculty supervisions result in an unstable clinical environment for students [5]. A need exists to find an innovative way to effectively educate nursing students to better prepare them for today's health care environment [3].…”