Concerns about inadequate clinical preceptorship for new graduates are being echoed in a just-released Clinical Training Agency report.
Earlier this year a major research project evaluating Nurse Entry to Practice (NEtP) programmes found that new graduates did gain confidence through programmes but concerns were raised about preceptors being overworked and under-prepared.
Likewise the recent analysis of NEtP trainee feedback to CTA found that inadequate clinical perception, not being rostered on with the preceptor, and not having enough time with the preceptor were highlighted as major issues by trainees in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The trainees’ responses were mirrored by the clinical preceptors themselves, with main areas of concern being not rostered on the same shift as trainees and clinical workload making it difficult to support trainees. Also highlighted was a lack of support and training for clinical preceptors.
“The two main issues identified by both trainees and clinical preceptors have highlighted the difficulties DHBs face due to the constraints of a busy hospital and staff rostering,” says the report.
“However, the high rate of trainees who successfully completed their programmes coupled with a falling withdrawal rate shows that DHBs have had some success in overcoming these difficulties.”
The report shows that one to three per cent of NEtP trainees fail each year and about five per cent withdraw. The analysis found that the ethnicity of trainees is about half Pākehā, more than a quarter Asian and seven per cent Māori.
Meanwhile, a separate analysis of CTA postgraduate nursing funding also found a high pass rate by trainees. The number of nurses receiving postgraduate funding rose from about 1600 in 2007 to 2282 in 2008, with a pass rate of about 95 per cent and a failure rate of less than one per cent.
In each year the vast majority of trainees reported no issues (70-80 per cent) with the issues that were reported largely due to the challenge of balancing work, study and family commitments.
The pass rates for trainees receiving the ringfenced funding for primary and rural health studies were even higher. The long term conditions management funding trainees had a higher withdrawal rate than other funding streams, with the full-time nature of the postgraduate certificate being identified as a problem. But 90 per cent did pass and the certificate would be offered as a part-time programme in 2010.
