NP Schools & Their Rigid Rules
I have been a preceptor for at least a dozen NP students and have yet to be offered compensation. Preceptors take the place of a paid instructor, giving away free advice and experiences. I don’t mind doing this, but at times it can be a struggle. Some students, for example, have never done a pelvic exam. Letting an inexperienced NP student practice a pelvic exam on a patient who made an appointment to see an experienced provider is unjust and unfair to the patient—I won’t do it. These schools need to provide practice sessions on paid patients so their students can learn these skills.
I have my beef with the institutes of higher learning, not the students. It feels like a one-way street. You fill out the forms they require in order to precept, which takes up valuable work time. You equip their students with the skills they need to practice safely and correctly, and then try to fill out their evaluation sheets on things that students are not licensed to do.
Schools present their contracts and won’t adapt them to match what your employer wants. We are doing them a service, yet they dictate how we do it. My practice no longer takes students from certain schools, simply because we do not agree with their contracts. These poor students are thrown out without a life raft to find their preceptors! Aren’t their schools getting paid to do something?
Carol Glascock, WHNP-BC
Columbia, MO
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