Strengthening Nursing Orientation and Preceptor Development: Highlights from the NEC Conference

Rethinking Nursing Orientation

Effective orientation is about more than completing a checklist or meeting a predetermined number of orientation hours. A strong orientation program should help nurses progressively develop and demonstrate the competencies they need to practice safely and confidently.

Susan’s session, Charting Our True North: Core Concepts for Nursing Orientation, explored the development of competency-based orientation systems and the foundational concepts that can help organizations create greater consistency in how nurses are prepared and evaluated.

The presentation drew on the development of Nurses International’s Clinical Competency Framework (CCF) and related orientation resources, as well as findings from a Delphi study used to identify and prioritize essential elements of competency-based orientation programs.

Key concepts discussed included:

• Establishing clear expectations for clinical competency
• Balancing universal nursing competencies with specialty-specific requirements
• Developing competency statements that focus on observable performance
• Using appropriate sampling strategies for competency validation
• Clarifying the responsibilities of learners, preceptors, and program leaders
• Reducing unnecessary documentation burden
• Incorporating clinical teaching plans and reflective learning
• Using continuous quality improvement approaches to evaluate orientation programs

Participants were also invited to consider how these concepts could be applied within their own organizations and which elements should be prioritized based on their individual needs.

Supporting the Preceptors Behind the Orientation Process

Preceptors play a critical role in helping nurses transition into practice, yet organizations may not always provide preceptors with the preparation, resources, and support they need to be successful.

The second session, Preceptor Development and Support Systems, focused on the essential components of effective preceptor preparation. The discussion explored preceptor instructional needs, appropriate course content and delivery methods, documentation responsibilities, and ways to evaluate whether preceptor development programs are achieving their intended outcomes.

Participants considered questions such as:

• What knowledge and skills do preceptors need before taking on the role?
• How can preceptor education be delivered in ways that fit the needs of different organizations?
• How can documentation requirements be streamlined?
• How can organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their preceptor programs?
• How can continuous improvement become part of the preceptor development process?

The session also introduced participants to Nurses International’s Preceptor Development for Healthcare Workers course, a free, open-access online resource designed to provide foundational education for nurses and other healthcare professionals preparing for preceptor roles.