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Report from Council on Advanced Practice
With an overall increase in nursing programs enrollment, particularly
Nurse Practitioner (NP) programs, and facilities' COVID restrictions, securing clinical preceptors has become a daunting task for many NP students. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), student enrollment in the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral nursing programs increased in 2020 despite the pandemic.1 Enrollment increased to 5.6% in the baccalaureate program, 4.1% in the master's program, and 8.9% in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program.1 Also, more than 36,000 new NPs graduated in 2019-2020.2 This increase has caused growing competition among students in securing clinical preceptors.3 In an 18 item survey in Canada, conducted by the Nurse Practitioner Education Interest Group, it was found that nurse practitioner programs have too many students for the number of available clinical sites/preceptors, resulting in over utilization, refusal to take students, burnout, and competition with other health disciplines for clinical placement.3
Other barriers to preceptorships include: nurse practitioner students are required to find their preceptor, clinical sites limiting the number of students a nurse practitioner can precept, lack
of preceptor training, struggles to meet required daily visits, increased work demand on the nurse practitioner limiting the time it takes to precept and evaluate the student's performance, electronic medical records restricting the student's ability to...
