The Investigation of Effect of Preceptorship Program on Promoting Practical Skills of Nursing Students in Alborz University of Medical Sciences: An Action Rresearch Study

Background:  There are strong evidences that shows newly  nurses are not ready to enter the workplace.This issue may cause errors and the damages that can lead to many problems and adverse outcomes for patients. The preceptorship model for improving nursing education via action research approach is assessed in the study. Methods: This study was conducted by action research method. Daily communications and monthly joint meetings were held from November 2015 to July 2016 for planning and management. Data were gathered via observation. The participants were 42 senior nursing students and 20 expert nurses. Both group participated in training sessions. In qualitative phase of study in-depth interview was conducted with 20 people including 15 students, 4 nurses and 1 nursing manager. In the quantitative phase all of the 42 students participated and their performance was assessed by OSCE. Also students’ satisfaction was examined by questionnaire. Three actions were developed and implemented. Qualitative data analysis was done by MAXQUDA software and SPSS was used for quantitative data analysis.    Results: Preceptors’ characteristics, clinical structure, communication between faculty and clinical environment were emerged from qualitative analysis.The most scores obtained from intravenous therapy and cardiopulmonary resuscitation stations, so that more than 55 percent of students were on the whole excellent and good. The lowest scores were reported in the history and nursing diagnoses and performances of 30 percent of the students were good, 42 percent 28 percent were moderate and poor respectively. Conclusion: Our finding as a preliminary action research study are valubale implications to address challenges and also barriers to implement the preceptorship model in clinical education .